MADDER. 



373 



from Cyprus, and madder to the value of 6260Z. from Syria, chiefly 

 to Great Britain. 



United States. — Attempts have been made from time to time to intro- 

 duce the culture of madder as a staple crop in New England and the 

 Western States of America. At Columbus and Birmingham, Ohio, at 

 Montague, Franklin county, Massachusetts, and on the Connecticut 

 Eiver, good crops have been raised. In composition the madder was 

 somewhat deficient in lime, but this being restored in the dyeing 

 process, the colours were found fully equal to those obtained with the 

 best French madder. These experimental trials were so far satisfac- 

 tory that they proved the crop to be entirely exempt from injury by 

 insects, and from the weather, after the first season's growth. The 

 plant is perfectly hardy, stands frost well, and also heat and drought, 

 excepting that during the first winter after planting, there is danger 

 on some soils of the ground heaving by frost, and exposing the roots 

 to the air, which would kill them. Although in Europe, the plant 

 seedS; in the United States it produces little or no seed, and imported 

 seed does not vegetate freely. In France and Holland it is cultivated 

 by the roots or sprouts. The soil best adapted for it is deep rich 

 loam, containing a good proportion of salts of lime, this element 

 entering largely into the composition of madder, and affecting its 

 quality. The sprouts are placed in small furrows, running 3 inches 

 deep, and 8 feet to 10 feet apart, across the whole field, the plants 

 having about one foot space between each root. Little care is re- 

 quired for the crop after this, besides hoeing and keeping the field 

 free from grass and weeds; as soon as the plants are 12 inches or 15 

 inches high, the tops are to be bent down to the surface of the 

 ground, and all except the ends covered with earth. The operation 

 is generally repeated three or four times during the first season, and 

 until the vacant place between the furrows is nearly filled up. The 

 plants by the end of the third or fourth year are ready for gathering, 

 which is usually done in the month of September. The roots are 

 then thoroughly washed in a machine, dried, and stacked away. 

 Before grinding and preparing for market the roots require to be 

 further dried in a kiln or oven, constructed in the simplest manner. 

 They are extremely brittle, and can be ground in a grist or bark mill. 

 The ground madder is then packed in casks or barrels, and is ready 

 for market. 



Within a comparatively recent period it has also been ascertained 

 that the spent madder, if treated in a similar manner, can be made to 

 yield a considerable quantity of additional colouring matter, equal for 

 some purposes to that obtained from the fresh madder. 



The Industrial Society of Mulhouse, France, recently published a 

 report on the effect of the introduction of artificial alizarine upon the 

 consumption of madder. The employment of the former product is 

 constantly augmenting, and it is manufactured on a large scale in 

 Alsace, Germany, and Russia. It is believed, however, that the large 

 demand will not greatly affect the normal consumption of madder ; or, 

 in other words, the proportion of pure madder used in the arts, before 

 the introduction into commerce of extracts of madder, will remain 

 unchanged. It is with these extracts that artificial alizarine comes 



