82 
also be applied without using any mordant. Specimens of 
cloth dyed with the Zanthorrhiza were shewn to the society 
last winter. This plant also possesses many medical vir¬ 
tues.* * * § 
Isatis Tinctoria, or Woad, is well known as a blue, and 
still better as the basis of black. The colouring matter is 
obtained from the leaves. This plant can be raised here 
with little trouble, and in great abundance. In the neigh¬ 
borhood of this city there are some fields planted with it. 
The Isatis, in conjunction with the Zanthorrhiza, gives us 
the three principal dyes in colour making. 
The Galium Tinctorium is also one of our native plants. 
It flourishes most in places sheltered from the sun, and 
where the ground is rather moist. This plant so nearly re¬ 
sembles the Madder (Rubia Tinctorium) in its botanical 
character, as well as in its colouring properties, that some 
writers have given it the name of Rubia Americana. The 
Galium is employed by the inhabitants of Jura, one of the 
Hebrides,f as a red dye, and it is perhaps equal to the rich 
red of the Rubia itself. Upon turning over the pages of our 
transactions, I find that the Galium has already received 
your attention and patronage.^: The true Rubia was raised 
last summer at Pittsfield by Mr. E. Watson, who will, I un¬ 
derstand/ read you in the course of the winter a paper on 
this article. The Rubia has for a long time been raised in 
Connecticut, but only in gardens. I understand the Sha¬ 
kers have also planted it.§ 
* See Barton’s Collections, part 2, ps. 11, 12, and 13. 
f Encyclopaedia Brixannica, article Jura. 
i Agricultural Trans, voi. 1st, p. 36y. 
§ The following directions for raising Madder, may he useful, 
they are copied from the Emporium of Arts, vol. 4th, No. 2, p. 
325. 
“ This plant may be propogated either by offsets or seeds ; if 
the latter method is preferred, the seed should be of the true 
Turkish kind, which is called lizari in the Levant. On a light 
thin soil the culture cannot be carried on to any degree of profit, 
that soil in which the plant delights is a rich sandy loam, being 
