482 



DYES A^D COLOEIXG STTJrFS, 



must be well seasoned, and all cracks or holes should be plastered or otlierrnse 

 stopped up. Make a shed-roof of common boards. In the inside put upright 

 standards about five feet apart, ^ith cross-pieces to support the scaffolding. 

 The first cross-pieces to be foiu' feet from the floor ; the nest two feet higrher, 

 and so on to the top. On these cross-pieces lay small poles, about sis feet long 

 and tvo inches thick, four or five inches apart. On these scaffolds the madder 

 is to be spread nine inches thick. A floor is laid at the bottom to keep all dry 

 and clean. "When the kiln is filled, take sis or eight small kettles or hand"^ 

 furnaces, and place them four or five feet apart on the floor (first securing it 

 from fire with bricks or stones), and make fires in them irith charcoal, being 

 careful not to make any of the fires so large as to scorch the madder oyer them. 

 A person must be in constant attendance to ^atch and replenish the fires. The 

 heat Tvill ascend through the -whole, and in ten or twelve hours it ^ill all be 

 sufficiently dried, "which is known by its becoming brittle like pipe stems. 



BreaJcing and grinding. — Immediately after being di-ied, the madder must be 

 taken to the barn and threshed -viuth flails, or broken by machinery (a mill 

 might easily be constiiicted for this purpose), so that it will feed in a common 

 grist-mill. If it is not broken and ground immediately, it will gather dampness 

 so as to prevent its grinding freely. Any common grist-mill can grind madder 

 properly. When ground finely it is fit for use, and may be packed in barrels 

 like flour for market. 



Amount and i-ah'.e of product.^ i^c. — Mr. Swift measured off a part of his 

 ground, and carefully weighed the product when dried, which he found to be 

 over two thousand pounds per acre, notwithstanding the seasons were mostly dry 

 and unfavorable, tN'ith his present knowledge of the business, he is confident 

 that he can obtain at least three thousand pounds per acre, which is said to be 

 more than is often obtained in Germany. The whole amount of labor he esti- 

 mates at from eighty to one hundred days' work per acre. The value of the 

 crop, at the usual wholesale price (about fifteen cents per pound), from three to 

 four hundred dollars. In foreign countries it is customary to make several 

 qualities of the madder, which is done by sorting the roots ; but as only one 

 quality is required for the western market, Mr. Swift makes but one, and that 

 is found superior to most of the imported, and finds a ready sale. 



Madder is produced in Middle Egypt to some extent, for the 

 consumption of the country, principally for dyeing the tarhouclie 

 or skidl caps which are nniyersally worn. Its culture was intro- 

 duced in 1825. In 18S3, 300 acres in Upper Egypt, and 500 

 in the Delta and the Kelyout, were devoted to madder roots, 



New South Wales is eminently suited to the culture of this 

 Taluahle root, and as the profits upon its cultivation are 

 very large, I would strongly recommend it to the attention of 

 agriculturists there. The article produces to Erance an annual 

 sum of one million sterling ; the price of the finest quality in the 

 English market being £60 per ton. Its yield varies from £10 

 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 articles as this, 

 for which there is an extensive demand at home, instead of con- 

 fining themselves exclusively to the commoner and bulkier pro- 

 ducts, which they export at a much less profit, and which when 

 once the market is ftdly supplied, may fall to a price at which they 

 cannot aftord to sell. 



The following is a calculation of the expenses generally supposed 

 to attend a crop according to the mode of cultivation practised in 

 Yaucluse 



