ETC. 153 



barrels or casks for market or use. In Holland the best quality, which is 

 known under the name of " krap," anglicised to crop, is prepared only from 

 the heart of the root, that has been previously deprived of the other parts 

 of less value : there is considerable difference also between these parts of 

 the root, in the loss of weight, which they respectively sustain by drying. 

 When the heart and surrounding layers are separately treated, the amount 

 of this loss is, in the case of the former, 57 per cent., but in that of the 

 latter 76 per cent. The total loss of weight in drying the raw root as it 

 comes from the ground is from 72 to 80 per cent., or on an average 75 per 

 cent. After a preliminary drying, which takes place in the southern parts 

 of France in the open air, the roots before being ground are dried a second 

 time, in kilns or stoves, and undergo further loss, say 7 or 8 per cent. But 

 such a loss, according to experience, is at least from 10 to 15 per cent, of 

 the light red coloured, and from 20 to 25 per cent, of the red roots ; the 

 latter, which are in the greatest demand, being on that account not dried 

 quite so well by the cultivators. We have no data as to the quantity of 

 land under culture with madder in France, but, looking at the local con- 

 sumption and large export, it must be considerable. 



Madder produces to France an annual sum of one million sterling. The 

 return varies from £40 to £50 per acre, and the expenses upon its proper 

 culture should not exceed one-half that amount. The colonists would find 

 it to their interest to turn their attention to such products as this, for which 

 there is an extensive demand, instead of confining themselves exclusively to 

 the commoner and bulkier products, which they export at a much less 

 profit, and which, when once the market is fully supplied, may fall to a 

 price at which they cannot afford to sell. 



The progressive increase in British consumption of madder is shown by 

 the following statement of imports, both of the root and ground madder. In 

 1839 it was 179,434 cwts. ; in 1849, 254,722 cwts. ; and in 1859, 355,552 

 cwts. To which is also to be added now about 42,000 cwt. of garancine, a 

 concentrated preparation of the dye, obtained by sulphuric acid. On the 

 Continent the root is called " alizari," and the powdered root " garance." 



THE PINE -APPLE FIBRE, &c. 



The leaves of this plant must be noted as yielding an exceedingly fine 

 fibre, and at the same time possessing great strength. The plant grows 

 wild all through the West India Islands, and indeed in America, Africa, 

 Asia, and almost all tropical regions. Mr. MacMicking gives an inte- 

 resting account of the manufacture of the celebrated pina cloth in the 

 Philippines. 



" There is perhaps no more curious, beautiful, and delicate specimen of 

 manufactures produced in any country. It varies in price according to 

 texture and quality, ladies' dresses of it costing as low as twenty dollars for 

 a bastard sort of cloth, and as high as fifteen hundred dollars for a finely- 



