nail boards perpendicularly on the outside, as for a common barn. The boards must be well seasoned, and all cracks or holes should be plastered or otherwise stopped up. Make a shed roof of common boards. In the inside, put upright standards, about five feet apart, with cross pieces, to support the scaffolding. The first cross piece is to be four feet from the floor, the next two feet higher, and so on to the top. On these cross pieces lay small poles, about six feet long and two inches thick, four or five inches apart. On these scaffolds the madder is to be spread nine inches thick. A floor is laid at the bottom, to keep all dry and clean. When the kiln is filled, take six or eight small kettles, or hand furnaces, and place them four or five feet apart on the floor, (first securing it from fire with bricks or stones,) and make fires in them with charcoal, being careful not to make any of the fires so large as to scorch the madder over them. A person must be in constant attendance, to watch and replenish the fires. The heat will ascend through the whole, and in ten or twelve hours it will all be sufficiently dried, which is known by its becoming brittle like pipe stems. Breaking and grinding.-Immediately after being dried, the madder must be taken to the barn, and threshed with flails, or broken by machinery, (a mill might easily be constructed for this purpose,) so that it will feed in a common grist mill. If it is not broken and ground immediately, it will gather dampness, so as to prevent its grinding freely. Any common grist mill can grind madder properly. When ground finely, it is fit for use, and may be packed in barrels, like flour, for market. Amount and value of product, &c.—Mr. Swift measured off a part of his ground, and carefully weighed the product when dried, which he found to be over 2,000 pounds per acre, notwithstanding the seasons were mostly very dry and unfavorable. With his present knowledge of the business, he is confident that he can obtain at least 3,000 pounds per acre, which is said to be more than is often obtained in Germany. The whole amount of labor he estimates at from 80 to 100 days' work per acre. The value of the crop, at the usual wholesale price, (about 15 cents per pound,) is from $300 to $400. In foreign countries, it is customary to make several qualities of madder, which is done by sorting the roots; but as only one quality is required for the Western market, Mr. Swift makes but one, and that is found superior to most of the imported, and finds a ready sale. If any person desires instruction for making several qualities of madder, or further information respecting any other point, it may be obtained by addressing, post paid, Joseph Swift, Birmingham, Erie county, Ohio. No. 18-(2.) Extract from the report to the French Academy of Sciences, made by M. de Gasparin, Peer of France, member of the Institute, and formerly Minister of the Home Department, on the cultivation of the madder root. In the cultivation of the madder root, the mineral composition of the soil is almost unimportant, although it has been remarked that it succeeds bet The second year.-Keep the beds free from weeds, plough the alleys, and cover the tops, as before directed, two or three times during the season. The alleys will now form deep and narrow ditches; and if it becomes difficult to obtain good earth for covering the tops, that operation may be omitted after the second time this season. Care should be taken in covering the tops to keep the edges of the beds as high as the middle; otherwise the water from heavy showers will run off, and the crop suffer from drought. The third year.-Very little labor or attention is required. The plants will now cover the whole ground. If any weeds are seen, they must be pulled out; otherwise, their roots will cause trouble when harvesting the madder. The crop is sometimes dug the third year; and if the soil and cultivation have been good, and the seasons warm and favorable, the madder will be of good quality; but generally it is much better in quality, and more in quantity, when left until the fourth year. Digging and harvesting.-This should be done between the 20th of August and the 20th of September. Take a sharp shovel, or shovels, and cut off and remove the tops within half an inch of the surface of the earth; then take a plough of the largest size, with a sharp coulter and a double team, and plough a furrow outward, beam deep, around the edge of the bed; stir the earth with forks, and carefully pick out all the roots, removing the earth from the bottom of the furrow; then plough another furrow, beam deep, as before, and pick over and remove the earth in the same manner; thus proceeding till the whole is completed. Washing and drying.-As soon as possible after digging, take the roots to some running stream to be washed. If there is no running stream convenient, it can be done at a pump. Take large round sieves, two and a half or three feet in diameter, with the wire about as fine as wheat sieves; or, if these cannot be had, get from a hardware store sufficient screen wire of the right fineness, and make frames or boxes about two and a half feet long and the width of the wire; on the bottom of which nail the wire. In these sieves, or boxes, put half a bushel of roots at a time, and stir them about in the water, pulling the bunches apart so as to wash them clean; then, having a platform at hand, lay them on it to dry. To make a platform, take two or three common boards, so as to be about four feet in width, and nail cleets across the under side. On these spread the roots about two inches thick, for drying in the sun. Carry the platforms to a convenient place, not far from the house, and place them side by side, in rows east and west, and their ends north and south, leaving room to walk between the rows. Elevate the south ends of the platforms about eighteen inches, and the north ends about six inches from the ground, putting poles or sticks to support them. This will greatly facilitate the drying. After the second or third day's drying, the madder must be protected from the dews at night, and from rain, by placing the platforms one upon another to a convenient height, and covering the uppermost one with boards. Spread them out again in the morning, or as soon as the danger is over. Five or six days of ordinarily fine weather will dry the madder sufficiently, when it may be put away till it is convenient to kiln-dry and grind it. Kiln-drying. The size and mode of constructing the kiln may be varied to suit eircumstances. The following is a very cheap plan, and sufficient to dry one ton of roots at a time. Place four strong posts in the ground, twelve feet apart one way and eighteen the other; the front two 14 feet high and the others 18. Put girths across the bottom, middle, and top, and nail boards perpendicularly on the outside, as for a common barn. The boards must be well seasoned, and all cracks or holes should be plastered or otherwise stopped up. Make a shed roof of common boards. In the inside, put upright standards, about five feet apart, with cross pieces, to support the scaffolding. The first cross piece is to be four feet from the floor, the next two feet higher, and so on to the top. On these cross pieces lay small poles, about six feet long and two inches thick, four or five inches apart. On these scaffolds the madder is to be spread nine inches thick. A floor is laid at the bottom, to keep all dry and clean. When the kiln is filled, take six or eight small kettles, or hand furnaces, and place them four or five feet apart on the floor, (first securing it from fire with bricks or stones,) and make fires in them with charcoal, being careful not to make any of the fires so large as to scorch the madder over them. A person must be in constant attendance, to watch and replenish the fires. The heat will ascend through the whole, and in ten or twelve hours it will all be sufficiently dried, which is known by its becoming brittle like pipe stems. Breaking and grinding.-Immediately after being dried, the madder must be taken to the barn, and threshed with flails, or broken by machinery, (a mill might easily be constructed for this purpose,) so that it will feed in a common grist mill. If it is not broken and ground immediately, it will gather dampness, so as to prevent its grinding freely. Any common grist mill can grind madder properly. When ground finely, it is fit for use, and may be packed in barrels, like flour, for market. Amount and value of product, &c.-Mr. Swift measured off a part of his ground, and carefully weighed the product when dried, which he found to be over 2,000 pounds per acre, notwithstanding the seasons were mostly very dry and unfavorable. With his present knowledge of the business, he is confident that he can obtain at least 3,000 pounds per acre, which is said to be more than is often obtained in Germany. The whole amount of labor he estimates at from 80 to 100 days' work per acre. The value of the crop, at the usual wholesale price, (about 15 cents per pound,) is from $300 to $400. In foreign countries, it is customary to make several qualities of madder, which is done by sorting the roots; but as only one quality is required for the Western market, Mr. Swift makes but one, and that is found superior to most of the imported, and finds a ready sale. If any person desires instruction for making several qualities of madder, or further information respecting any other point, it may be obtained by addressing, post paid, Joseph Swift, Birmingham, Erie county, Ohio. No. 18-(2.) Extract from the report to the French Academy of Sciences, made by M. de Gasparin, Peer of France, member of the Institute, and formerly Minister of the Home Department, on the cultivation of the madder root. In the cultivation of the madder root, the mineral composition of the soil is almost unimportant, although it has been remarked that it succeeds bet ter in those soils in which the proportion of humus,* or vegetable mould, is the greatest. As to the physical properties, the most superior soil for the growth of the madder root is that which is specifically the lightest in proportion to its bulk; that which will take up most water, and in which evaporation is the slowest; that which adheres the least to the tools in working it, and which, being dry, adheres least together. There are two ways of cultivating the madder root: 1st. Cultivation on the small scale, which is done by hand, and on small patches of ground; 2d. Cultivation on the large scale. Cultivation on the small scale.-When a person has a piece of ground which is suitable to the growth of madder, he should first of all break it up to the depth of a metre, unless it should lately have been worked to some depth. This is generally done by the spade. The operation should take place during the winter; the rain and frost break up the clods, which, on the approach of spring, will become pulverized. It should be done when the ground is in such a state that, although there is sufficient humidity in it, it will not adhere to the implements made use of. Manure should be carted upon it during the whole winter. There are some lands upon which the quantity of manure to be employed might (as we may say) be unlimited, and they would produce a crop of roots in proportion to the quantity thrown on; but it must be understood that it is only upon porous, light, fresh soils, that the experiment of putting on such a superabundant quantity of manure should be attempted. When the manure has been well spread over the ground, it must be ploughed in crosswise, so as to cover it lightly, and then harrowed, to make the surface even. The furrows in which the madder seeds are to be sown are then traced out with a small hand plough. The furrows ought to be five feet and a half in width, with a space between them of about fourteen inches; thus the lines would be traced at six feet eight inches distance from each other. This operation being completed, a man takes a hand-furrow, and hollows out a deeper furrow along each ridge; he is followed by a woman or child, who throws the seed into the furrow. From 400 to 450 pounds of seed to every hectare will be the necessary quantity. The seeds should be regularly distributed, at not more than one and a half inch distance from each other, and in every direction; they should not be sown in lines. When the man has completed his furrow, he will, on returning, open another alongside of it-the earth turned up for which will serve to cover the seed which has been sown upon the first; the woman still follows him, and sows the seed in the new furrow; and so on, till they come to the sixth, which remains without being sown, and which forms the interval between ae arst and second ridges. As soon as the madder makes its appearance above the ground, immee care should be taken to have it properly weeded, in which the agriist cannot be too particular; and this must be repeated whenever cod cods begin to show themselves. This weeding is to be done by e women and children must go on their knees, in the space beJe strows, and pluck out with great care the roots and filaments of This should be followed, in every instance, by covering the -a sain of decay, is the substance called humus.-(See Liebig's Agricultural aded by J. Winchester, New York.) and 6 perches, English; or 11,960 square rods. madder plants with a light layer of earth, taken from between the furrows; and this is for the purpose of making the ground firm around them, and to replace that which the pulling up of the weeds may have removed. The weeding must be repeated more or less often, in proportion to the propensity of the ground to produce weeds; and one ought to calculate upon three weedings being sufficient during the first summer. It will require equal to 22 days' work of a woman upon each hectare, every time it is done, upon such lands as produce weeds only in moderate quantities; but the quantity may be much more considerable in soils where vegetation is particularly vigorous. In the month of September, the furrows should be covered two or three inches deep with earth; and in this state the madder passes the winter. At the time the top of the plant will have begun to wither from the effects of the cold nights, and will soon after become dry, the question is not so much to defend it from the frost, which it withstands well, as to oblige the plant to form new roots in the earth with which it is covered, to the end that it may show itself above ground. The first vegetation in the spring is so vigorous, that it pierces through the layer with rapidity, and the new stem shows itself as soon as the first warmth of spring is felt. During the second year the weeding must be continued; but if it has been carefully done during the first, the madder plants, having taken firm hold of the soil, would not allow the growth of many extraneous weeds. The plants are lightly earthed up after every weeding, as before. However, there are many persons who do not take this precaution after the first year, pretending, with some show of reason, that the pulling up of the weeds cannot affect the madder plants, which then have become firmly rooted. When the stem is in flower, it is cut for fodder, or it is left to run to seed. Opinions are divided as to these two methods. Many persons think that the mowing compels the plant to push forth a new shoot, which impoverishes the root; but, on the other hand, it may be argued that allowing the stem to come to maturity will impoverish the plant, and rob it of all its succulency. As to the fodder, it is of an excellent quality-almost as much esteemed as lucerne. It is well known that it has the property of turning red the bones of animals which feed upon it-a circumstance often remarked in countries where the madder grows. Experienced cultivators can judge from the produce of the first year's fodder what will be the produce of the roots themselves; for it has been found that they are equal in weight to the fodder cut the first year, and double that of the second. The third year does not require any other labor than the mowing of the stems; and finally, in the month of August or September, as soon as the rains have sufficiently penetrated the ground so as to render it easy to be worked, the taking up of the roots themselves is proceeded in. It is necessary that this should be completed before any fears can be entertained of frost, which might prove very injurious to the quality of the roots while they are laid out to dry. To do this, men are placed on every furrow; and sometimes two on each, if the ground be very stiff, and require much labor. With their spades they turn up the ground before them, and keep digging down as long as they perceive any filaments of the roots. Before each laborer is placed a cloth, into which he throws the madder as he gathers it. Whenever this is full, it is carried to the area upon which the crop is to be |