ON MADDER. 
47 
In Avignon they are not acquainted with the terms strip- 
ped or not stripped {robee ou non robee.) There the word 
epuration is used. A madder is purified from 3, 5, 7 or 10 
per cent., and even as high as 15 per cent. This mode of 
expression is pure quackery, for how is a root to be puri- 
fied except by depriving it of its epidermis, and how can 
we suppose that the root may contain at will so much morp 
or less of it as to require that the purification should some 
times be carried to 15 per cent.? We should have to sup- 
pose that the weight of the epidermis was to that of the root 
as 1 : 7, 10 or 15, which is not the case. 
The best madder is made with the roots of the Palus. In 
Avignon the name of Palus is given to some tracts of 
land anciently covered with marshes ; these lands, enriched 
by animal and vegetable remains, are eminently suited for 
the cultivation of the madder, and the roots they produce 
are almost all red, whilst other kinds of soils produce rose- 
colored roots. 
The powder from the Palus madder is of a dull and 
rather unsightly red, but on drying it becomes blood-red, 
which^may be varied at' pleasure. A small quantity goes 
much further than a larger quantity of the rose-colored 
root. 
The rose-colored madder is made with the so-called rosy 
Lizaris. The powder is of a bright red, bordering a little 
upon yellow. 
The madder, which is half palus, half rosy, forms a 
brilliant powder, which is well received in the market, and 
which affords very satisfactory results in dyeing. The 
brilliancy of the rosy madder mingling with the rich depth 
of the palus, produces a most beautiful red. 
The madder of Avignon may be used immediately on 
leaving the mills ; but the powder which has been preserv- 
ed in casks for a year is decidedly preferable. It keeps 
well, and undergoes little or no fermentation in the casks ; it 
