156 



MADDER OF SUPERIOR QUILITY. 



country a service, if it will induce any person to attempt 

 the culture of this madder on a larger scale. I beg leave to 

 observe, that the first attention which I paid to this valuable 

 vegetable, after I had raised it from the seed, was to ascer- 

 Sapenority tain satisfactorily whether the superior quality of its co- 

 of the colour- jouiing matter depended on the plant itself, or if it was 

 merely owing to climate, or other local substances ; which 

 often occasion a great difFeience in the quality and value 

 of many other productions of a similar nature. To prove 

 this I had extracts made in the same manner with the pre- 

 pared Dutch madder of our shops, which did not bear any 

 comparison in point of colour with that of mine; but 

 fearing, that the Dutch madder might be damaged by the 

 mixture of some extraneous substance, I made a similar 

 extract from the fresh roots of the common rubiatinctorum, 

 which had for some years past been growing in my garden 

 at Brompton, and the extract marked B is the result, and 

 is much inferior in colour to that from the Smyrna seed ; 

 though the extracts were both obtained in the same way, viz. 

 by boiling the roots and making a precipitate from them by 

 alum and vegetable alkali. 

 Ground m Mr. I flatter myself I have here been instrumental in the in- 

 Salisbury's tioduction of a plant, producing a very valuable dye, and 

 priated to ex- hope we may not be long under the necessity of depending 

 penmcnts. upon a foreign market. If any gentleman would wish to 

 make experiments relative to its growth, or if any seeds of 

 a similar nature should come into the Society's possession, 

 I shall be happy to make experiments with them,' having 

 appropriated a piece of ground in my new botanic garden 

 S'udy of ho- Solely for such purposes. I must confess, that I have great 

 pleasure in the above communication, as it will prove, that 

 benefits occur from botanical institutions; and that the 

 opinion formed by some persons, that the study of botany is 

 a dry nomenclature, is founded in errour; for certainly. 

 Kinch good will arise from botanical investigations to raedi» 

 cine, the arts, and manufactures. 



I am, with great respect. Sir, 



Your obedient and humble servant, 



WILLIAM SALISBURY, 

 JBrompton, Jpril 2G, 1809» 



DEAR 



c.-'ny advau- 



