H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

tures in quality, as well as to diminish their price, were we to rear it here, as I fhall soon have occasion to fhow.

Madder is at present imported chiefly from Zealand, in the state of dried powder. Now the drying of the root, and reducing it to a powder, is not only expensive, but it also gives rise to frauds that tend to prove hurtful to the manufacture. It is, however, well known by the experiments made about twenty years ago by Mr d'Ambourney, and others in France, that, if the root be employed while yet fresh, it naturally affords a finer colour than can ever be obtained from it after it has been dried, and. also yields that colouring matter in greater quantity, nearly in the proportion of two to one. So that the saving would be immense, were the plants reared by our farmers, and furnished to the manufacturer fresh as they were wanted, without being under the necefsity of drying them, as they must be if brought from a great distance..

These considerations induce me strongly to recommend this plant to the notice of the British farmer, as an article. that would be certain of finding a ready market, at such a. price as would insure him an abundant profit, while it would, at the same time, tend to improve our manufactures,.. and prove upon the whole a great national benefit.

The culture of madder, though it requires skill and attention, is not at all precarious.. In our climate, a good crop of it may be reared with as great certainty as that of almost any other article the farmer can rear, and will as abundantly repay his pains.-It requires indeed a deep rich soil, and those only who pofsefs such a soil ought to attempt to rear it. But where the soil is favourable, perhaps few articles will afford a better return.

There are several varieties of the madder plant, which differ considerably from each other in their qualities, and in their mode of culture, with which the farmer ought

to be made acquainted before he begins to cultivate it. These are,

1st, The Zealand madder. This is the kind most com-. mon in use. It is, when compared with the others, a Strong robust plant, the leaves larger, and of a darker green colour. It produces fewer seeds, and the roots send out a much greater number of off-sets, or rambling fibres, than: the other sorts. It is of course more easily propagated by off-sets, and more difficult to be increased by seeds than. the other sorts. Its roots afford lefs colouring matter in. proportion to their bulk, and of a lefs brilliant lustre than the other sorts.

2d, The Hazala madder from Smyrna; sometimes also it is called Lizary. This plant grows naturally in the Levant, and has been hitherto usually imported from Smyrna. . Its stalks are weaker than the Zealand madder its leaves smaller, and of a paler green colour; its roots are smal- ler, but firmer, and have fewer joints. And it runs more to.. seed than the other. It may be therefore cultivated more: readily by seeds than by cuttings; and indeed this seems to be, on several accounts, the best mode of cultivating this plant, though it has been hitherto much lefs practised. than that by runners.

3d, The Oifsel madder. This is a variety that was accidentally discovered by Mr d'Ambourney, growing wild, among the rocks at Oifsel near Rowen in France, and cultivated by that gentleman with considerable success. It: seems to be very much, if not entirely, the same with the Hazala above described, from which it probably differs in no respect. The roots. of both these sorts contain fewer. small useless fibres than the other, and a greater proportion of firm, well ripened roots, from which alone a good colour can be obtained, and therefore weight for weight, they are of much greater value to the manufacturer than the Zealand kind. Whether these be distinct varieties, that

never alter, or whether the Zealand sort may not have been originally the same sort debased by culture, is a question that may afford some amusemeut for the speculative philosopher to solve,-it is of no consequence for the farmer to trouble his head with it; all that imports him to know is, that in the situation they can be put under his power, they possess certain properties invariably, which must influence his conduct in cultivating them, and to which he ought to attend, if he hopes to derive profit from the crop.

The culture of the common madder has been so often detailed in print, that many of my readers will be acquainted with it. Off-sets that fhoot out from the roots, are planted in rows in the month of March. The ground is kept clean, and the earth dug at times, or horse hoed between the rows. The crop is ready for taking up at the end of the second year. The greatest difficulty attending the culture of this plant, at present, is the drying the root properly, and reducing it to powder. To do this, a particular apparatus is required, and much nicety in the operations is necessary. This deters people from Laking small trials; and wise men are seldom disposed to enter at large into any new undertaking with which they are not fully acquainted. If the root were used by the manufacturer in its fresh state, this obstruction to its culture would be effectually remo d.

1

Seeds of the Smy: na kind of madder can be easily obtained, by ordering it from that port. And, from many con

siderations, it is very evident that this is the kind which would afford most profit to the cultivator in Britain. If it were once brought into this country, its seeds could be obtained here in abundance.

These seeds come readily up a short time after they are sown, during the spring or summer season. Perhaps the

most economical mode of rearing these would be to sow them in a bed of good garden mold, in the month of May, or beginning of June, to water them when necefsary, and keep them free from weeds till the month of October, when they should be transplanted to where they are to remain.

A good preparation for the ground for receiving the plants, is to have had it trenched the winter before, thoroughly dunged in the spring, and sowed with pease. When the pease are taken off the ground let it be ploughed and planted at the same time. The method of planting is this: The young plants must be taken carefully from the seed bed, so as to preserve their roots as entire as pofsible, and laid carefully into baskets provided for that purpose. When the plough is working, let women be distri buted at regular distances alon the ridge, each with a basket of plants. When the plough has opened a furrow let the plants be placed n it carefully, with their top a small matter below the surface of the ground, and the root placed at its length downwards, fixed in the newly moved mold. The plants may be put in at about a foot from each other in these rows. Two rows may be planted in the two contiguous furrows; and then three furrows may be omitted, and the fourth and fifth planted, and so on till the field be completed. The ground at the time of planting fhould get as deep a furrow as can be given it. field be laid perfectly dry during the winter.

And the

when the

In this state it may remain till the spring; surface fhould be harrowed smooth, as early as dry weather will permit; the annual weeds cut down by a hand hoe as soon as the plants appear, and the intervals between the double rows be horse hoed during the summer, as often as fhall be found convenient. The procefs of horse hoing is as yet very little understood in any part of Britain. The opexation should be so conducted as to lay the earth alternate

[ocr errors]

ly first to the one side the row about the whole interval, and then on the other side, so as never to leave the plants bare of earth at both sides at the same time. It would require many words to describe this procefs, so as to be intelligible; but any ploughman might be taught to do it by practice in a few minutes; nor have I ever seen a procefs in agriculture that is more perfect or more easy. The plants thus cultivated may be taken up at the end of this year if necessary, or they may be taken up during any part of the succeeding season, as fhall suit the conveniency of the parties.

If the season fhould prove wet in the autumn, the planting the roots may be deferred till the spring; but in general the autumnal planting is the most advisable, as it does not retard the growth in the spring. This kind of madder shows itself earlier in the spring than the common kind.

The roots of madder descend to a great depth, where the soil is favourable, and being naturally tender, they must be taken up with great care. The Smyrna roots, as has

been said, are firmer and more compact than the ordinary sort, and have fewer crop fibres, so that they may be more easily taken up, and have lefs refuse than the other

› sort.

Where it is intended that the plants should be used fresh, they may be taken up at any season of the year they are wanted, and they can be preserved fresh for a very long time, merely by laying them pretty close together in any convenient place, and putting earth about them, so as to prevent them from touching each other too near and heating. In this way they can be preserved many months, with no danger and little trouble.

I shall conclude this article with the account of the result of Mr d'Ambourney's experiments with the green soot, which shall be given in our next.

« TrướcTiếp tục »