MADDER.

BY J. R. DODGE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

INQUIRY has been made in different sections of the country for practical information concerning madder, its qualities, habits of growth, culture, and preparation for market. Petitions to Congress have been submitted upon the same subject, and congressional inquiry has been directed to it. While it is not deemed a very promising crop for American farmers generally, at present prices of labor, it is thought worthy of a brief treatise, for it is quite possible, in central or southern States, near towns having available supplies of labor at the precise time required, that the crop may be cultivated to advantage, especially with the use of improved economic modes of culture and labor-saving machines.

PROPERTIES AND Uses.

Madder (Rubia tinctoria) has long been cultivated for the dye extracted from its roots. The Greeks and Romans used it two thousand years ago. It was called rubia by the Romans, and by several different names by the Greeks, one of which, rærantia, has given the French word garance, by which the plant is distinguished in France. One of its extracts, peculiar to that country, is largely imported into this country, and called garancine.

There is a difference in the intensity of the coloring principle in madders from different localities; and, as generally stated, there are two distinct principlesalizarine, red, and xanthine, a yellow color. Some have recognized still another, purpurine, insoluble in water, obtained by treating the powdered root, when exhausted of its alizarine, for some hours in a hot solution of alum, with a little sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, by which a precipitate is obtained soluble in alcohol, and yielding purpurine by distillation. The primary coloring principle, alizarine, is obtained by mixing madder in fine powder with an equal weight of sulphuric acid, and allowing it to remain a few days until all the vegetable elements but alizarine are carbonized, when the acid is washed out with water, the residue digested with cold alcohol to dissolve fatty matters, then dissolved in boiling alcohol, from which the coloring matter is obtained by distillation. It is without smell, insipid to the taste, neutral to test papers, slightly soluble in cold water, but soluble in ether or alcohol in all proportions. The aqueous solution is of a pure rose-red color; the etherial, a golden yellow. Sulphuric acid gives a solution of a blood-red color. Xanthine, the yellow coloring matter, is soluble in water and alcohol, and sulphuric acid produces a green. It is probable, after all, that these products are all modifications of one coloring principle. It is used for coloring cotton goods mainly. It does not answer well for silks, not affording a color of sufficient brilliancy. It is very useful and convenient in calico printing, on account of the different tints obtained by the use of different mordants, iucluding red, purple, yellow, orange yellow, and brown.

It has been shown, by analyses made by Mr. Carnes, in Lowell, Massachusetts, that the ashes of the French madder of Avignon contained 32 per cent. of carbonate of lime, while Turkey madder yielded but 18, and a Massa husetts product 23 per cent. To this fact he attributed the superiority of the Avignon madder, believing that a portion of the mineral had been mixed with the root

in grinding, and holding that a similar admixture would make ours the best madder in the world, from the fact that the introduction of five per cent. of chalk into the home product had produced a result equalling the best French madder dyeing.

IMPORTS.

Twenty years ago the imports of madder were so considerable as to induce experiments in its culture and preparation. From a statement made in 1848 there was imported into New York in eighteen months from January 1, 1845, and into Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, in twenty-one months from the same date, an aggregate of 16,804,715 pounds, costing $1,620,415, or about ten cents per pound.

In the statistics of the commerce and navigation division of the treasury, from which the following table is compiled, the quantity given for the first three years (though the class is not specified) is presumed to be "ground or prepared." Statement of imports of madder into the United States from 1855 to 1864,.

inclusive.

The largest portion of this importation comes from France. Holland, Belgium, and Turkey furnish much of the remainder. These prices are those of the countries from which the import comes, and represent gold values. The present quotations in New York are: Dutch, 7 to 8 cents; French, 7 to 8 cents, in gold.

It is stated that the demand for madder is less than formerly, in proportion to the amount of manufacturing done, in consequence of the substitution of analine dyes extracted from coal-oil or petroleum; and the price has been somewhat reduced at the same time. Twenty years ago the price was about ten cents per pound. In 1864 the root was bought abroad, in gold, for eight cents seven mills, and the prepared for seven cents two mills per pound. In currency, however, in our ports it must have commanded at that time little short of twenty cents. The same fact must be taken into consideration, to some extent, in estimates of probable prices and profits in the future.

In 1865 the imports were nearly all from France, in the form of extract and garancine. Our French correspondent gives the process of making garancine at Avignon. It is first washed to separate the yellow coloring or xanthine. It is then boiled with fifty per centum of sulphuric acid at 66°, to render the fibre

soluble. Again the acid is washed out, and it is pressed, dried, and ground. The water of the first washing, by fermentation and distillation, produces a very strong alcohol used in the arts.

CLIMATE AND SOIL.

A mild climate is essential to the best growth and highest development of its peculiar properties; yet it is cultivated throughout a wide range of climateon the East India coasts, the shores of the Mediterranean, and upon the northern German coasts. All of our middle, southern, and western States afford a climate suitable for the culture.

A rich and deep dry soil is required, with a good proportion of humus; and if a decayed grass-sward is selected, it is all the better. If rich and deep, so that the roots may readily develop and spread, a soil inclining to sand may be better than stiffer soils. In France it is grown in all kinds of land, but in soils too dry or sandy it is said that "the root remains small, produces little, and after trituration has a very light color."

The roots, which are long and crawling, ligneous, and divided into branches, are yellowish in color and of an astringent taste. In light soils they are small and of a red orange color when dried in the air. In soft, light, rich lands they are grayish in color, but dusky red when powdered. In France the root is extensively cultivated, especially in the department of Vaucluse, where an extensive area, formerly swamps, and lightly esteemed by the proprietors, has been drained, and now commands a high price, and produces an excellent quality of madder. These lands contain a very large proportion of chalk. drained or badly drained soils are entirely unsuitable to its growth; and, therefore, heavy uplands, tenacious with a stiff clay, are found to be unprofitable for such a crop. River bottoms, not clayey, and especially "second bottoms," which contain a rich, light loam abounding in humus, are employed to advantage.

CULTURE IN ZEALAND.

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In Zealand it is grown upon alluvial bottoms deposited by the sea, which are highly alkaline and silicious, and produce a root of yellowish color. It is propagated there by shoots or sets planted in May, in rows two feet apart. Clean culture by weeding and covering in autumn is pursued, and the roots are taken up and dried by means of stoves, and are a second time dried before being ground.

The yield in Zealand averages 2,350 pounds of powdered madder. The winter being severe, the roots are oftentimes taken up at eighteen months' old. The product is less in such case, but the risk and trouble of a second wintering is avoided.

CULTURE IN FRANCE.

In the French department of Vaucluse it is grown from seed in a chalky alluvial deposit, and is sown in beds five or six feet wide, with a space of eighteen inches between the beds. In November of the first year, the young plants are

covered two or three inches with earth taken from between the beds. In the second and third years the beds are carefully weeded, and the foliage cut for forage when in flower. The roots are dug in August or September of the third year, and simply cleaned if the earth is dry, but washed if so damp as to adhere. In digging, the earth is loosened by a spade or fork, and the roots are drawn, piled, dried in the open air, and packed in bales.

The Department of Agriculture has received, through the courtesy of the Secretary of State, several communications relative to the French mode of culture,

forwarded by Consul Geo. W. Van Horne, from Marseilles, prepared by practical operators of that vicinity.

From one of these communications-that of Mons. A. de Speyr, of Avignonthe following extracts are made, detailing the experience of many years in the cultivation of madder in the department of Vaucluse:

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Seed-The seed should be perfectly dry and free from fermentation. The seed of the paluds is much better than that of the roses. One may preserve it in a good state for two years by keeping it in a dry place and subjecting it to a thorough ventilation.

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Sowing-A ridge of eight or nine inches wide and one and a half inch deep is made with a spade and sowed. At a distance of two inches another ridge, of the same size, is run, having care to cover the seed of the first ridge with the earth taken from the second, and so on to the completion of the third ridge. These three ridges form a platband about three feet wide, separated from each other by a space one and a half feet in width, left as a path for the laborer in weeding. From this path also is taken the earth to cover the plants in autumn, when the leaves are dead. For the sake of economy these paths are sometimes planted with potatoes, beets, &c., but each extra plant should be put far apart

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"If the earth is well pulverized, instead of the seed being sown, one had better plant roots of the preceding year's growth, as crops obtained from the plants display much finer roots than when raised directly from the seed. But if the ground is not friable, but hard and clayey, the plants would not grow well, and possibly would not take at all. In this case seed must be sown. An acre of madder produces seed sufficient for three or four acres of sowing.

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Transplanting-For the transplanting of roots, as indicated above, ridges, about three feet wide and three inches deep, are made, and the roots laid therein just free from each other; and between these ridges an uncultivated space is left, as in sowing.

"Weeding. The seed is sown, or the roots transplanted, in March, and great care must be observed in keeping the land free from weeds; the paths, also, being attended to in this respect.

"Irrigation. When the land is dry, from drought, it will be necessary to water it by irrigating the intermediate paths, if possible. Slimy water is preferable to clear water for this purpose.

"Covering. In autumn, when the plants lose their verdure and turn to a grayish tint, they must be covered with one and a half or two inches of earth taken from the paths. In the following spring the clods must be broken with a rake.