CULTURE OF MADDER. 
359 
all full, there will be but little chance for weeds 
to grow ; but all that appear must be pulled out. 
The second year.-—Kee p the beds free from 
weeds ; plow the alleys and cover the tops, as be¬ 
fore directed, two or three times during the season. 
The alleys will now form deep and narrow ditches, 
and if it becomes difficult to obtain good earth for 
covering the tops, that operation may be omitted 
after the second time this season. Care should be 
taken, when covering the tops, to keep the edges 
of the beds as high as the middle; otherwise the 
water from heavy showers will run off, and the 
crop suffer from drought. 
The third year.—Very little labor or attention 
is required. The plants will now cover the whole 
ground. If any weeds are seen, they must be 
pulled out; otherwise their roots will cause trouble 
when harvesting the madder. The crop is some¬ 
times dug the third year; and if the soil and cul¬ 
tivation have been good, and the seasons warm 
and favorable, the madder will be of good quality; 
but generally, it is much better in quality, and 
more in quantity, when left until the fourth year. 
Digging and Harvesting. —This should be done 
between the 20th of August and the 20th of Sep¬ 
tember. Take a sharp shovel or shovels, and cut 
off and remove the tops with half an inch of the 
surface of the earth; then take a plow of the 
largest size, with a sharp coulter and a double 
team, and plow a furrow outward, beam deep, 
around the edge of the bed; stir the earth with 
forks, and carefully pick out all the roots, remov¬ 
ing the earth from the bottom of the furrow ; then 
plow another furrow beam-deep, as before, and 
pick over and remove the earth in the same man¬ 
ner; thus proceeding until the whole is com¬ 
pleted. 
Washing and Drying .—As soon as possible 
after digging, take the roots to some running 
stream to be washed. If there is no running stream 
convenient, it can be done at a pump. Take large, 
round sieves, 2\ or 3 feet in diameter, with the 
wire about as fine as wheat sieves; or if these 
can not be had, get from a hardware store suffi¬ 
cient screen-wire of the right fineness, and make 
frames or boxes about two and a half feet long 
and the width of the wire, on the bottom of which 
nail the wire. In these sieves or boxes, put half 
a bushel of roots at a time and stir them about in 
the water, pulling the bunches apart so as to wash 
them clean ; then, having a platform at hand, lay 
them on it to dry. (To make the platform, take 
two or three common boards, so as to be about 
four feet in width, and nail cleets across the under 
side.) On these spread the roots about two inches 
thick for drying in the sun. Carry the platforms 
to a convenient place, not far from the house, and 
place them side by side, in rows east and west, 
and with their ends north and south, leaving room 
to walk between the rows. Elevate the south 
ends of the platforms about eighteen inches, and 
the north ends about six inches from the ground, 
putting poles or sticks to support them—this will 
greatly facilitate drying. After the second or 
third day drying, the madder must be protected 
from the dews at night, and from rain, by placing 
the platforms one upon another to a convenient 
height, and covering the uppermost one with 
boards. Spread them out again in the morning, or 
as soon as the danger is over. Five or six days 
of ordinarily fine weather will dry the madder suf¬ 
ficiently, when it may be put away till it is con¬ 
venient to kiln-dry and grind it. 
Kiln-drying. —The size and rgode of construct¬ 
ing the kiln may be varied to suit circumstances. 
The following is a very cheap plan, and sufficient 
to dry one ton of roots at a time. Place four 
strong posts in the ground, twelve feet apart one 
way, and eighteen the other; the front two four¬ 
teen feet high, and the others eighteen ; put girts 
across the bottom, middle and top; and nail boards 
perpendicularly on the outside as for a common 
barn. The boards must be well-seasoned, and all 
cracks or holes should be plastered or otherwise 
stopped up. Make a shed-roof of common boards. 
In the inside, put upright standards about five 
feet apart, with cross-pieces, to support the scaf¬ 
folding. The first cross-pieces to be four feet from 
the floor; the next two feet higher, and so on to 
the top. On these cross-pieces, lay small poles 
about six feet long and two 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 six 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 with 
charcoal, being careful not to make any of the 
fires so large as to scorch the madder over them. 
A person must be in constant attendance to watch 
and replenish the fires. The heat will ascend 
through the whole, and in ten or twelve hours it 
will all be sufficiently dried, which is known by 
its becoming brittle like pipe stems. 
Breaking and Grinding .—Immediately after 
being dried, the madder must be taken to the 
barn and threshed with flails, or broken by ma¬ 
chinery, (a mill might easily be constructed for 
this purpose,) so that it will feed in a common 
grist-mill. If it’is not broken and ground imme¬ 
diately, 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. 
If any person desires instruction for making 
several qualities of madder, or further information 
respecting any other point, it may be obtained by 
addressing, post-paid, Joseph Swift, Birmingham, 
Erie countv, Ohio. / 
M. F. Bateham. 
The above article is taken from the Transac¬ 
tions of the New York State Agricultural Society, 
and shows how easily madder can be cultivated. 
If Mr. Swift be not too sanguine in his calculations, 
it is certainly a very profitable crop. We ought 
not to import a single pound four years hence, and 
need not, if our farmers will take hold of the busi* 
ness as they ought to, as low as other agricultural 
products are. For a series of valuable articles on 
this subject, from the pen of one of our own corres¬ 
pondents, Mr. Partridge, see vol. ii., pp. 53, 77, 
and 115 of American Agriculturist. 
