RUB 
facility of his touch, exhibit a charm, and shew a variety of 
invention, which fascinate the observer, and leave him no in¬ 
clination to dwell on tbe defects, though they are often nei¬ 
ther few nor small. 
As a colourist, Rubens, in comparison with Titian, the 
great master of the Venetian school, will rise or fall, ac¬ 
cording to the taste of the amateur. If he is less chaste than 
the Venetian, he is more brilliant; and if not by the truth 
of his colours, yet he claims our applause by the lustre and 
splendour of his tints, The latter, in his execution, min¬ 
gled his hues as they are found in nature, in such a manner 
as to make it impossible to say where they begin or termi¬ 
nate ; Rubens, on the other hand, laid his colours in their 
places, one by the side of the other, and then very slightly 
mixed them by a touch of a soft pencil; not unfrequently 
leaving his prepared ground visible through parts of the 
colours, to produce an haimonizing tone. Of these different 
styles, the only correct mode of judging is by reference to 
the specific object of art, the imitation of nature, and then 
Titian’s will be regarded as the most correct, though Rubens’ 
may be more alluring. 
RUBENS (Albert), son of Peter Paul, was born at 
Antwerp in 1614, and succeeded his father in his post as 
secretary to the council, devoting his leisure to literary pur¬ 
suits. He died in 1657, leaving behind him many works, 
as monuments of his great learning and sound judgment, of 
which the following may be mentioned. “ Regum et Im- 
peratorum Romanorum Numismata,” which is a commen¬ 
tary on the medals of the duke of Arschot: “ De Re 
Vestiaria Veterum “ Dissertatio de Gemma Tiberiana 
et Augustea—de Urbibus Neocoris—de natali Die Csesaris 
Augusti,” which were published by Grasvius in the The¬ 
saurus Antiq. Roman. 
RUBERSLAW, a hill of Scotland, in Roxburghshire, in 
the parish of Bedrule, elevated 1419 feet above the level of 
the sea. 
RUBETRA, in Ornithology, a species of Motaoilla ; 
which see, 
RUBIA [from the red colour of the root], in Botany, a 
genus of the class tetrandria, order monogynia, natural order 
of stellate, rubiaceoe, (Jtiss .)—Generic character. Calyx: 
perianth, very small, four-toothed, superior. Corolla: one- 
petalled, bell-shaped, four-parted, without a tube. Stamina: 
filaments four, awl-shaped, shorter than the corolla; anthers 
simple. Pistil: germ twin, inferior; style filiform, bifid at 
top; stigmas capitate. Pericarp: berries two, united smooth. 
Seeds solitary, roundish, umbilicate.—The corolla is fre¬ 
quently five-cleft. — Essential Character. Corolla one- 
petalled, bell-shaped. Berries two, one-seeded. 
1. Rubia tinctorum, or dyer’s madder.—Leaves annual, 
about five ovate-lanceolate, ciliate, rugged on the upper sur¬ 
face, with little recurved prickles on the edge and keel, stem 
with prickles at the angles, clefts of the corolla commonly 
four.—Dyer’s madder has a perennial root, and an annual 
stalk. From the joints of the stalk come out the branches, 
which sustain the flowers; they are placed by pairs, opposite, 
each pair crossing the other; these have a few small leaves 
toward the bottom, which are by threes, and upward by 
pairs opposite; the branches are terminated by loose 
branching spikes of yellow flowers, which are cut into four 
segments resembling stars. These appear in June, and are 
sometimes succeeded by seeds which seldom ripen in Eng¬ 
land.— Native of the South of Europe, the Levant and 
Africa. 
It is well known that madder is so essential to dyers and 
calico-printers, that neither business can be carried on with¬ 
out 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 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. 
RUB m 
2. Rubia Chilensis, or Chili madder.—Leaves annual, in 
fours, peduncles axillary, solitary, one-flowered, stem even. 
Berries roundish, red.—Native of Chili. 
3. Rubia peregrina, or wild madder.—Leaves in fours or 
fives, elliptic, above shining, even, flowers yellow, five-cleft. 
Root perennial, branched, penetrating deeply into the fissures 
of rocks; its outer bark red.—Native of England, among 
bushes and on rocks. 
4. Rubia lucida, or shining-leaved madder.—Leaves per¬ 
ennial, in sixes, elliptic, shining, stem even. This is an 
evergeen plant, resembling the preceding, but the leaves are 
rugged with recurved prickles on the edge only, not on the 
keel. Flowers panicled, pale, mucronate, five-cleft.—Native 
of Majorca. 
5. Rubia fruticosa, or prickly-leaved madder. — Leaves 
perennial, elliptic, prickly at the edge and keel, stem fru- 
tescent, rough. Flowers yellowish, axillary, on three-flow¬ 
ered peduncles.—Native of the Canary Islands. 
6. Rubia angustifolia, or narrow-leaved madder.—Stems 
diffused, very rugged, four-cornered. Leaves perennial, 
four or six in a whorl, linear-acute, the keel and margin 
ciliate, with little prickles, and rugged along the rib of the 
upper surface. Flowers yellow, flat, five-cleft.—Native of 
Minorca. 
7. Rubia cordifolia, or heart-leaved madder. —Leaves 
perennial, in fours, cordate.—This is a diffused, scandent 
plant, quite smooth. Stem four-cornered, rugged, with 
recurved prickles at the corners, and branched. Flowers 
axillary, panicled, white. Panicle, very spreading, in whorls 
and sub-trichotomous. Peduncles and pedicels capillary, 
four-cornered. Bractes subulate-setaceous.—Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope, Siberia, China, Japan, where it is used 
in dying. 
Propagation and Culture .—Madder requires a loamy 
soil, not too stiff, nor over light. 
The time for planting madder begins towards the end of 
April, and continues all May, and sometimes, in very back¬ 
ward springs, there is some madder planted the beginning of 
June. The young shoots from the sides of the root are taken 
off from the mother plant, with as much root as possible; 
these are planted with an iron dibble in rows at one foot 
asunder, on beds three feet wide. 
The first year the madder is planted, it is customary to 
plant cabbages or dwarf kidney-beans in the furrows between 
the beds, but there is always great care taken to keep the 
ground clear from weeds. 
In September or October, lay the stalks down on the beds, 
and cover them with earth. 
The second summer there must be the same care taken to 
keep the madder clean as in the first, and that nothing is 
planted in the furrows, or suffered to grow there. Again in 
October, the green stalks are spread down upon the beds; 
and the madder is again covered with earth, in the same 
manner as the first year. 
The roots are seldom dug up the second year, but gene¬ 
rally after it has grown three summers, therefore the culture 
of the third year is the same as in the second, during the 
spring and summer. 
When the madder is dug out of the ground, it is carried to 
the stove, on which it is spread to dry; it is then threshed 
on the threshing-floor, which is made clean from diit or 
filth, and then it is brought to the kiln, and there spread on 
a hair-cloth for about twenty hours. 
From the kiln the madder is moved to the pounding-house, 
and is there pounded and sifted, after which it is packed up 
in casks. 
RUBIACEiE, in Botany, one of Jussieu’s largest and 
most important natural orders of plants, which has grown 
out of the Linnaean Stellate, and is named from Rubia, a 
genus belonging to the latter. Linnaeus, in subordinate 
sections of his Stellate, has indicated some genera, as akin 
to what more strictly appeared to him to constitute that order. 
But his ideas wandered between this tribe and the contorte, 
to which last he referred some genuine rubiaceee; as cin- 
chon; 
