417 
It is well known that Madder is so essential to dyers and calico-printers, 
that neither business can be carried on without it. The consumption of it 
is so great in England, that upon a moderate computation, more than one 
hundred and eighty thousand pounds sterling is annually paid for what is 
imported from Holland. This might be saved to the public, if a sufficient 
s quantity of Madder were planted in England, where it might be cultivated 
to greater advantage than in Holland, our lands being better adapted to the 
growth of this plant. 
The cultivation of Madder has been several times attempted, when our 
commerce with Holland has been interrupted, or the Dutch have raised the 
price of the commodity enormously. At the end of the 17 th century, Madder 
was worth about six pounds the hundred weight. The quantity imported 
from Holland being six hundred and fourteen tons and an half; supposing 
that all together, some being better, some worse, it was worth five pounds 
the hundred on an average; the sum paid the Dutch for Madder was 6T,450l. 
It was planted near Wisbech, and fhey cured a great deal there; upon which 
the Dutch sold theirs so low as forty shillings the hundred, by which means 
our planters were so discouraged as to lay their plantations by.*' 
The dearness of Dutch Madder, induced Mr. Miller, in the year 1^58, 
to publish a quarto pamphlet on the cultivation of this useful plant, with 
figures of it, and of the stoves, kilns, drying-houses and mills, used by the 
Dutch in preparing the root; but 1 believe the culture was not carried to 
any great extent, and was soon dropped. 
Since that time, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures 
and Commerce have taken up the Culture of Madder; and inform the pub¬ 
lic, in the first volume of their Transactions, published in 1783, that Madder 
having been raised to an extravagant price by the foreign growers and 
importers, on a supposition that it could not be brought to any degree of 
perfection in this kingdom, considerable premiums were given, to the amount 
of fifteen hundred pounds and upwards, besides two gold medals, to en¬ 
courage its growth here; and that the commodity produced in consequence, 
was found as good at least, if not better, than any imported. By these pre¬ 
miums, fixing the tithes at five shillings an acre, and continuing the rewards, 
foreign Madder was reduced to a reasonable price, and may probably con- 
* Houghton’s Collections, Yol. II. p. 3/2. 
5 N 
