419 
that the crop requires the ground to be well cleaned, on account of the great 
difficulty of extracting root-weeds from among the fibres of the plants, which 
consequently would, in three years, get entire possession of the ground: that 
the average profit of an acre amounts to above seven guineas, under the dis¬ 
advantages of first attempts and want of experience; if the soil had been 
naturally rich, such as old hop-grounds for instance, the profit would have 
been probably double: that the culture of this plant ameliorates and cleans 
the soil in a great degree, by the hand-hoeing, numerous horse-hoeings, and 
extraordinary tillage the ground receives in taking up the roots: that rich 
manuring is of the greatest importance: that great mischief is done to the 
crops by drawing plants from them: that the roots bear exact proportion to 
the luxuriance of the branches and leaves. 
Instead of spoiling the plantations of Madder by drawing; it is much 
better to leave such a part of the crop, as will be wanting for a supply; tak¬ 
ing up the plants for this purpose in the spring instead of the autumn. One 
acre of good Madder will yield plants enough for ten acres. 
Old lay or new land is improper for this crop, on account of the wire- 
worm or sod-worm: such land should be thrown into one round of crops 
before the Madder is planted. 
The best manure is farm-yard dung. Top dressings of all sorts are too 
small in quantity, however rich, to last with effect three years. 
The land should be ploughed about fourteen inches deep; the intervals 
between the rows repeatedly horse-hoed with a shim, and then the plants 
earthed up by a double mould-board plough with expanding earth-boards: 
the rows also must be hand-hoed, as often as it is necessary. 
The sets may be planted in rows at eighteen inches or two feet distance, 
and a foot asunder in the rows. The best distance will vary according to 
the goodness of the land. But in general the nearer the rows, the greater 
will be the crop ; at least as near as two feet equally distant. Single rows 
at four feet are not half so advantageous. Two rows at four feet are almost 
twice as beneficial as single ones; but though two rows on a four-foot land 
amount in the whole to the same as equally distant at two feet, yet do they 
not near equal them in product; from which it should seem that the plants 
should be spread pretty equally over the land/ 
§ Young’s Eastern Tour, Yol. II. p. 263—328. 
