116 
RAISING PORK. 
ment in dyeing; but that color is accompanied 
with so many other substances which mask and 
degrade it, that it can be brought out and fixed only 
after a series of operations more or less difficult 
and precarious. This dye is besides so little solu¬ 
ble, that much of it is thrown away in the dye- 
house ; the portion supposed to be exhausted being 
often as rich as other fresh madder; hence it would 
be a most valuable improvement in this elegant 
art to insulate this tinctorial body, and make it a 
new product of manufacture. 
“ Before the time of Haussmann, an apothecary 
at Colmar, the madder bath was subject to many 
risks, which that skilful chemist taught dyers how 
to guard against, by introducing a certain quantity 
of chalk into the bath. A change of residence led 
Haussmann to this fortunate result. After having 
made very fine reds at Rouen, he encountered the 
greatest obstacles in dyeing the same reds at Lo- 
gelbach near Colmar, where he went to live. 
Numerous trials, undertaken with a view of ob¬ 
taining the same success in his new establishment, 
proved that the cause of his favorable results at 
Rouen existed in the water, which contained car¬ 
bonate of lime in solution, while the water of Lo- 
gelbach was nearly pure. He then tried a facti¬ 
tious calcareous water, by adding chalk to his dye- 
bath. Having obtained the most satisfactory re¬ 
sults, he was not long of producing here as beau¬ 
tiful and as solid reds as he had done at Rouen. 
This practice became soon general among the cali¬ 
co-printers of Alsace, though in many dye-works 
the chalk is now replaced by lime, potash, or soda. 
But when the madder of Avignon is used, all these 
antacid correctives be<H>me unnecessary, because 
it contains a sufficient quantity of carbonate of 
lime: an important fact first analytically demon¬ 
strated by that accurate chemist M. Henri Schlum- 
berger of Mulhausen. Avignon madder indicates 
the presence of carbonate of lime in it, by efferves¬ 
cing with dilute acids, which Alsace madder does 
not. 
“ M. Kuhlman found a free acid resembling the 
malic, in his analysis of madders. But his experi¬ 
ments were confined to those of Alsace. The 
madders of Avignon are on the contrary alkaline, 
as may be inferred from the violet tint of the froth 
of their infusions; whereas that of the Alsace 
madders is yellowish, and it strongly reddens lit¬ 
mus paper. This important difference between 
the plants of these districts, depends entirely upon 
the soil; for madders grown in a calcareous, shelly 
soil in Alsace, have been found to be possessed of 
the properties of the Avignon madder. 
“ The useful action of the carbonate and the 
phosphate of lime in the madder of Avignon, ex¬ 
plains why madders treated with acids which re¬ 
move their calcareous salts, without taking away 
their coloring matter, lose the property of forming 
fast dyes. Many manufacturers are in the habit 
of mixing together, and with advantage, different 
sorts of madder. That of Avignon contains so 
much calcareous matter, that when mixed with 
the madder of Alsace, it can compensate for its de¬ 
ficiency.' Some of the latter is so deficient as to 
afford colors nearly as fugitive as those of Brazil¬ 
wood and quercitron. The Alsace madders, by 
the addition of chalk to their baths, become as fit 
for dyeing Turkey-reds as those of Avignon. When 
the water is very pure, one part of chalk ought to 
be used to five of Alsace madder, but when the 
waters are calcareous, the chalk should be omitted. 
Lime, the neutral phosphate of lime, the carbonate 
of magnesia, oxyde and carbonate of zinc, and sev¬ 
eral other substances, have the property of causing 
madder to form a fast dye, in like manner as the 
carbonate of lime. 
“ In a memoir published by the Society of Mul¬ 
hausen, in September, 1835, some interesting ex¬ 
periments upon the growth of madders in factitious 
soils are related by MM. Koechlin, Persoz, and 
Schlumberger. A patch of ground was prepared, 
containing from fifty to eighty per cent, of chalky 
matter, and nearly one fifth of its bulk of good 
horse-dung. Slips of Alsace and Avignon madders 
were planted in March, 1834, and a part of the roots 
were reaped in November following. These roots, 
though of only six months 1 growth, produced toler¬ 
ably fast dyes, nor was any difference observable 
between the Alsace and the Avignon species; 
while similar slips or cuttings, planted in a natural 
non-calcareous soil, alongside of the others, yielded 
roots which gave fugitive dyes. Others were 
planted in the soil of Palud, transported from Avig¬ 
non, which contained more than 90 per cent, of 
carbonate of lime, and they produced roots that 
gave still faster dyes than the preceding. Three 
years are requisite to give the full calcareous im¬ 
pregnation to the indigenous madders of Avignon.” 
It appears to me, from the above-stated facts, 
that the highly beneficial effects of calcareous soils 
on madder, is owing to the oxygen furnished to the 
plant by the carbonic gas so abundant in such 
soils; or why should oxyde of zinc answer as well 
as the carbonates in raising the dye in the kettle, 
and making the color permanent ? 
Our farmers will observe that lime-stone soils 
are the best for madder, and that it can not be too 
highly impregnated with carbonaceous matter. 
In such soils two years will be all-sufficient time 
to raise a crop. 
Wm. Partridge. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
RAISING PORK. 
Buffalo , April 22d, 1843. 
The astonishing demand that has been created 
within the last 12 months for pork, to be used in 
an unexpected and entirely new mode, will here¬ 
after make it a great object for our farmers, par¬ 
ticularly those at the southwest where corn is 
abundant, to raise large numbers of hogs. Chem¬ 
ists discovered many years since, that lard and tal¬ 
low are composed of two distinct principles; one, 
a firm, adhesive, compact substance, resembling 
spermaceti obtained from the sperm whale, which 
is called stearin; the other, a fluid substance, re¬ 
sembling winter-strained oil, which is called elaine . 
Although these substances have been known for 
a long time, it is but recently that the discovery 
has been applied to the manufacturing of them 
from lard to any extent. Scarcely one year has 
