MADDER (RUBRA TINCTORUM LINNI.)

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 271, 9 June 1888, Page 3

MADDER (RUBRA TINCTORUM LINN I.)

Maddku (Germ., Farbrmthc) ha^long and slender roots of the thickness of a man's little finger, semi-transparent, and red in colour. They have a strong smell, and a smooth bark. The roots are used for dyeing red, and are only second to cochineal, as compared with which dye it has tho advantage of being moioj permanent. It is a native of tho South of Europe, and is most successfully crown in Alsace, Bavaria, Holland, and Turkey. Madder is seldom oxported to England except in a. prepared or manuiactuicd state, and commercial men divido it into four clas.s* n, namely, Mull, Gamen, Ombro, and Oopo, Tho roots are dried in stoves or kilns, and tho firs!, named aiticle, Mull, consists of a powder pioduced by pounding tho very small rooN, and the hu.sk of the bark of the bngcr ones. This is tho cheapest kind of madder dye, and is used for dark led colours. A second pounding sepatatcs about a third part of the laiger roots, and produces the quality named (famen. The third pounding .deals with the inner pure and bright part of the roots, and the product is sold under tho name of Ivor Krapo, &hoi toned in England into Cropo. Some, however, after the reparation of tiio M-ill, grind the entire lesidue and pack it together under the name of Ombio, | L'lepaicd madder should be keptdiy, as it absorbs Mjoistuie from the atmosphere, which i*. injurious to it. Madder grown in [ Turkey is imported m its natural state as , tho nati\e-> h.ive not sullieicnt industry to prepare it. Tho fc'iench, Germany, or Dutch peas.mlh do. The farmeis of Zeeland, Havana, and Alsace d< rivo gieat wealth trom the cultivation of madder, and tn my own knowledge it is a favourite crop with the larger fanners ot Fianconia and the >Sa\on pnnoip.ilitics. Madder h a hardy perennial plan.. Tlie stalks and leaves are hairy, and are used wheie grown for polishing metal, and as food for cattle. A deep, rich, fiee soil suits it be-t. In spring plant the shoots m fimows tluee feet apart, a distance of one foot being left between tho plants Keep tho land clean, and cut oft the stem« of the plants in autumn tor fodder. You can gather the , roots in the autumn of the second year a"'ter 1 planting in New Zealand, but by leaving it three years a much greater weight of roots and better quality ot dye is obtained. Dig up the roots with fo'k*, but take care not to break or damage them ; shake off loose earth and let them dry in the sun. in wet weather kilns or heated rooms being requited. When thoroughly dry the roots arc very brittle, and arc easily ground by mills with vertical stones. The powder is pl'tccd in casks and improves by being kept 121 these for a time, but after two years dotcriotates. The fresh toots yield one quarter of their weight in power. The dry loots aie worth about C 3 per lOOlbs of 50 kilogramme^. Soil tit for barley, suits midder. Deep cultivation is recommended, by which the subsoil is opened up and weeds destroyed. Good manuring is es«ential, but this will leave the land very much eroiehed. Avoid stagnant water if you wi«h to succeed. The plant can bo raided from seeds or oiopagated from ott'-shoots Madder is now extensively used for making superior inks, and on account of its non-poisonous quality it is a safe and handy dye to use for domestic purpo.se 13 . This dye has come very much into use again in England, a& a better quality is now obtained than formerly when the trade w -is exclusively in the hands of the Dutch, who adulterated the article to a .shameful extern. C A. Ulkicit, Auckland. [To the above we may add that the method of gi owing from .seed practisi d by giower? in tho French department of Vaucluse is ns follows : — Tho soil is during the winter well woiked and heavily manured with dung ; "in spiing the seed is sown in beds about five or my feet wide, each bed being about eighteen or twenty inches apart. Great care is taken to keep the land clear ot weeds once the young plants are up. In tho beginning- of the following winrer the beds are covered with a layer of earth two or three inchesthick, the earth being taken from the spaces between the beds During the second year the weeding has to be still continued, bu" the plants being bigger the work is more easily and cheaply done. When the plants are in blossom they are cut and given as food to cattle, the foliage of madder being, it is said, as nutritious as lucerne. The madder plantation the third season only requires weeding, and the cutting of the green tops. With the tirst moistening of the soil horn autumn rains, the roots are then carefully dug up, placed in linen cloths for carrying, dried in the open air, and packed up in bales. We think it right to state that the cost for labour in the cultivation of madder is high, which would, however, be no argument again* t growing the plant if the profits made up for this expense. The average crop in Vaucluso is 25 cwts of dried roots, or 20 cwts of powder per acre. In Zealand the average return is 21 cwts of j, ''dered madder, with about 1\ cwts of a less valuable kind of powdor. .Some years asro the quoted price of madder was 36s to 44s per cwt. — Ed. N.Z.F.]

What Protection Does. — During th° course of his speech in moving the Address-in-Reply, Mr Fjkc said he was neither a protectionist nor a irce trader. He was not a iiee trader till he spent two montlus in Australia, but he hod learned there that neither protection nor free trade was a necessary factor to the piosperity of a colony ; and he had also learned that protection started a number of industries, and its continuance destroyed those same industries. The whole of the manufacturing industries of Victoria were falling into the hands of two -yudicateh, while during the past two years 78 manufactories have been closed, and in one year 500 people had been dismissed. What he strongly favoured was intercolonial free trade. In the Bombay settlement, about 30 miles from Auckland, the wheat crop? this year are reported to have varied very much, ranging from about 16 bushels up to 38 per acre. Oats have yiolded very fairly, but he caterpillar played havoc amongst a four very promising fields of oats, the Tartarian su tiering the m^sb From two stations in the South, comprising 140,000 acres, 386,000 rabbit skins, weighing 437cwt, and costing £3470 for collection, were shipped home in the year ending 31st March last. The colonies of Australasia produce annually 430 million pounds of raw wool and 220 million pounds of clean wool, being a larger quantity than is produced either in Asia, Africa, or North or South America separately.