230

DYEING AND CALICO PRINTING.

is very carefully tended and kept free from weeds. Experience having shownthat the older the root the richer it is in colouring matters, the plant is left inthe soil at the very least for eighteen months, but often for a longer time.Care is taken to promote the development of the root by covering the portionsabove ground with soil, thus preventing its too rapid growth. The plantblooms in July, and the seed is colle&ed in August. The plant is cut downwith sickles, the stem and leaves being used as food for cattle. In November,the plant having been in the ground for eighteen months (which is technicallycalled two years) or 28 months (called three years), the root is dug out, anoperation which in the Vaucluse is performed by means of a specially-constru&ed plough. The yield of roots at two years of age varies considerably,but on the average amounts to 16,000 kilos, of fresh root per hectare, equal to4000 kilos, of dried lizari. The price of the air-dried root in this districtvaries from 65 to 70 francs per 100 kilos., and the department of the Vaucluseproduces yearly madder to the value of 25 to 30 millions of francs. Thedryness of the air and the heat of the sun suffice for the desiccation of theroot so as to fit it for the grinding-mill and for transportation.

The cultivation of madder in the Netherlands is chiefly, though not entirely,confined to those parts of the country which have been reclaimed from thesea, and are commonly termed “ polders.” The soil is chiefly a rich alluvialclay, and does not contain nearly so much lime as the paluds district of theVaucluse. It may be advisable here to quote the full analysis, made someyears ago by Mulder, of the surface and subsoil of the best Zealand madder-clays, of the earth from the palud district, and of the ash of the best Alsacemadder-root by Koechlin, and of Zealand madder-root by Mulder.

Surface Soil, Zealand, Air-dried.

Sodium chloride . 0*013

Potassium silicate. 0*484

Sodium silicate . 0*314

Sodium carbonate. 0*064

Calcium sulphate. 0*127

Calcium carbonate. 13*058

Potassium carbonate. o*ooo

Potassium chloride . o*ooo

Manganic and ferric sesquioxides .. .. 3*387

Alumina. 1*218

Phosphoric acid . 2*688

Subsoil from the Same Field.

Sodium chloride . 0*014

Potassium silicate. 0*630

Sodium silicate . 0*012

Sodium carbonate. 0*239

Calcium sulphate. 0*248

Calcium carbonate. 13*930

Magnesium carbonate. 0*69

Potassium carbonate. 0*050

Manganic and ferric sesquioxides .. .. 2*310

Alumina. 1*305

Phosphoric acid . 0*500

Residue to make up 100, moisture, silicates, &c., insoluble in hydrochloric acid.