Some observations and directions for the culture of madder. Charlestown, South-Carolina, 1775.

Some observations and directions for the culture of madder. Charlestown, South-Carolina, 1775.

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Some OBSERVATIONS and DIRECTIONS for the CULTURE of MADDER.

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Some OBSERVATIONS and DIRECTIONS for the CULTURE of MADDER.

Charlestown, South-Carolina, 1775.

AN Endeavour to introduce any new Article of Agriculture and Commerce to the Publick, ought to be well considered and viewed in every Light, that all the Advantages and Disadvantages may appear; otherwise the well-meaning, industrious Plan'er may be brought into an Errour by cultivating it, and the Encourager of Commerce sustain a Loss by adventuring in what is useless and unsaleable. The Writer, by the Experience he has had in cultivating MADDER, ever since the Year 1764, from a few Sets which he then brought from England; and notwithstanding the many Disadvantages, since that Period, of being deeply engaged in Business, in but an indifferent State of Health, and being very near two Years in England, has at present near thirty Acres of Madder in a thriving and even flourishing Condition.

THE Article of Madder is so useful in dying every Kind of Woollen Cloth, from the lightest Reds to the deepest Purples, and also for printing and staining all Linens, Cottons and Callicoes the same Colour, and every interveening Shade between, that these Manufactures could not be carried on, to any Degree of Perfection, without it: Therefore, no doubt can be made of its Utility and constant Demand in every Part of Europe, and in every other Part of the World where Manufactures are or may be carried on. Besides, the Production of Dyes is peculiarly beneficial to this Province, and likely to be p [...] nently so from our natural Connection, as we may be sure they never will be saddled with a Duty, as Tobacco, [Page] Sugar, &c. these Articles being for the perfecting the Manufactures of Great-Britain; and it is a Piece of fixed and true Policy there, that all Goods for Dyers Use, if regularly imported, entered and landed, are free of Duty, when even the very same Article, used as a Drug and not for Dyers Use, is sometimes loaded with a Duty.

IT was with some Difficulty at first that the Culture of Indigo was introduced, nor can a Planter be blamed for using due Caution in a Thing, perhaps, he is little acquainted with, and on which a great Deal depends; we have now happily succeeded, though it struggled with many Difficulties both here at Home.

BUT the planting of Madder, on a small Scale, can hurt no Planter much; for as it is raised from Slips, though it has a very great Increase, it will be two or three Years before they can go largely upon it, during which Period every judicious Man will make Observations how it will answer, which he may easily do in less than a Quarter of an Acre.; by digging it in October or November, which will be about twenty-one Months from the Time of Planting, and then drying the Roots and weighing them, he can soon judge whether it will be worth his while to proceed.

I HAVE hereto subjoined such Observations and Experiments as I have been able to make, both here and in Places where it is cultivated to Profit in England, and I am sensible the Advantage is greatly in Favour of this Province, as it does not grow larger there in three Years than here in twenty-one Months; the Rent of Land there for Madder being about forty Shillings sterling an Acre, each Year, which, when considered, will make a material Difference in Favour of the Carolina Planter. In this Province, we have Plenty of Land that will suit it; indeed I am persuaded it will grow on any Kind of Land; [Page] yet nothing will pay better for good Land than Madder. I would particularly recommend it to be planted in old Fields, to bring them into Tilth and good Heart again; it being a meliorating Crop, owing partly to the shady covering it gives it, and to its being laid in Ridges and obliged to be dug deep, in order to get up the Roots, in which its Value Consists. The great Destruction to Land, by yearly clearing new for Indigo, requires some Article of this Nature to bring Land into good Order again; and I know nothing will do it more effectually; not even Turnips when eat on the Ground; nor could I ever find that any Insect affects it. The busiest Time will fall out in February, March and April; and again in October and November, when some small Negroes may also be employed to Advantage.

THE Expence of erecting Stoves and large Buildings, such as are used in the Low Countries, particularly in Zealand, may, I think, here be saved; and any rough built Sheds or Barn Lofts, will dry the Roots sufficiently; and, if upon repeated Trial it be found to be more advantageous when pounded, our Rice Machines are exactly the Model of a Madder Mill, such as are used in Holland, but in England they generally grind it with a Stone, moving in the Manner of a Cyder or Bark Mill. The Madder which comes from the Levant, and is produced in the Archipelago and about the Island of Cyprus, is sent to England and other Markets in Bags or Serons; the dried Roots unpounded. The Zealanders pound theirs, as they then can make two or three Sorts, and pack it in large tight Casks; this last Method will sell the highest, and saves a good Deal of Freight; but I have been told by some Callico Printers, they would rather choose to pound or grind it themselves. The usual Price in the Root unpounded is from 201. to 251: Currency a hundred Weight; the best Crop Madder pounded [Page] is from 301. to 401. Currency a hundred; some Samples sent Home from hence and tried, was valued at 61. sterling a hundred. We have a Species of wild Madder grows common in this Province, the botanical Description of which agrees with the Sort cultivated for Use, except that the wild Madder is much smaller, has little Root and a whitish Flower; the Character of the cultivated Sort has a small yellow Flower of four Leaves; the Flower has one bell-shaped Petal with four awl-shaped Stamina; after the Flower is past, it becomes a twin black hairy Berry; the Leaves are star-shaped, and disposed from four to six in Whorls round the Stalk; the Stalk is hairy, four cornered and of the Vine Kind, and grows from two to five Feet high, according to the Culture and Goodness of the Land, and spreads over the Beds in the Nature of our Spanish Potatoe Vine. The Roots are composed of many long coral shaped Branches, not much larger than a Goose Quill, and will often run three Feet in the Ground, if the Land be soft and mellow; they are of a brownish red Colour on the Outside, but of a clear orange or yellow within, of a sweetish bitter Taste; this yellow pithy Part is of the most Value, and turns of a red Colour, when exposed to the Air, or any Alkali is added, but it is most saleable when it breaks of a bright yellow; it must be well dried in the Shade, and packed and pressed in tight Casks for Fear of getting wet. It is easily propagated and increased by slightly covering the Stalk or Haulm when it has done flowering, which generally happens twice in a Year in this Province, though never but once in England, when a great Number of new shoots will spring up from the Crown of the Plant, besides a Numder of horizontal Fibres, which also send out a Number of Shoots fit to set out.

[Page] IT is supposed to be a Native of the Levant, about this Latitude. and was, it is said, brought into Europe, about the Time of the Holy War, where it has been carefully cultivated ever since.

I SHALL now proceed to the CULTURE of this useful Plant from the Observations I have been able to make, which, though perhaps far from being perfect, are sufficient for any Person, with a little Attention, to help him on his Way, till Experience may have made him more perfect.

THE Land most proper is a soft, rich, sandy Loam, of a good Depth, but it will succeed very well in any Land that will grow Corn or Indigo, and will grow on any Land except a cold blue Clay, though not to the same Advantage as in the Land first mentioned.

As the Roots will run very deep, where the Culture and Land suit, in which the Goodness and Largeness of the Crop consists, the Land should be plowed or hoed up as deep as can conveniently be done in November or December, the sooner the better; and if old Field or strong Land should be plowed or hoed again in January, the Frost having mellowed it, should in February be drawn in Ridges, like Potatoe Beds, about three Feet asunder and two Feet high; I would recommend to do this about two or three Weeks before you intend to plant, that the Beds may acquire a little Solidity, and when you are going to plant, let a Person rake the Tops of the Bed even. As soon as your Shoots or Plants are about four to six or eight Inches long, which will generally happen here early in March, a careful Person must take the Shoots from the old Plant, as near the Crown as he can, when another takes and divides each Shoot singly, leaving a Bit of the yellow Root to each, which is very easily and quickly done, laying them strait with all the Roots one Way; [Page] another good Hand in the mean Time is making a Hole with a Dibble at every eight Inches Distance on the Top of the Ridge or Bed; a Boy following him, drops a Plant or Shoot close to each Hole, whilst other Hands follow and fix the Plant and press the Earth close to it, a little deeper than the yellow Part of the Shoot. Thus the Work going on regularly, a great deal may be planted in a Day. The best Time, I think, is March or early in April, as about that Time we generally have Rain, and the Plants take immediately; but if later and a Course of dry Weather succeed, Numbers of them will fail; when that cannot be avoided, a careful Hand must supply every Plant that has failed, taking always the Advantage of soft, moist or rainy Weather. If the Plants stand long out of the Ground, or are obliged to be carried a great Way, they should be covered with wet Moss, or their Roots put ten Minutes in Water to stiffen them, and make them take more kindly at Planting. If your Land be grassy, as old Fields, it will require a slight Hoeing downwards in a Month or six Weeks after it is planted. About the latter End of June, when the Shoots or, more properly Haulm of the Plant begins to spread, and some of it will be near blossoming, what was hoed down the last Month must now be drawn up towards the Roots of the Madder; this buries the Grass near the Plant, and increases the Shoots and horizontal Roots, which soon strike down and increase the Quantity of Tap Roots. The Grass must still continue to be kept under during the rest of the Summer; it is light Work if attended to in Time, and a Hand will go through a great Deal of it. About November the Haulm will appear to be dead, then you are to draw the Earth over it one or two Inches deep, which covers it for the Winter. This is all that is necessary to be done the first Year.

[Page] THE second Year, in the beginning of March, or as soon as the Shoots begin to be from four to eight Inches long, for they push their [...]eads early and strong like young asparagus; they may be taken off, as before directed, so many as you want to plant out, and in a Fortnight you will have from the old [...]other Plant a Number more of Shoots, which the Crown of the Plant pushes out with great Exuberance; there should not again be taken off, as it will impoverish the [...]oots too much. All the Management necessary the second Year, is to keep it clear of Grass and Weeds; and about June, when the Haulm has done blossoming and beginning to appear white, to turn it over the Beds and draw a very little Earth over it, to prevent its falling back; but observe not to cover it too much, for if you do, in the latter Part of the summer you will be plagued with Crab Grass. Many People may condemn this Way of turning over the Haulm as tedious; (one Negro will turn over an Acre a Day) besides inverting Nature and answering no End. The Reason for treating it so is this: I observed the Haulm by spreading over the Beds, would rot in the Intervals, and supposed that to be the Reason, I could not procure a Quantity of Seed; I therefore had one Bed sticked like Pease, in order to keep the Vine or Haulm from the Ground, but stili the End I had in View of producing Seed was not answered; but I had a Mind to see what Alterat on this would have on the Roots, and was agreeably surprised to find I had about a fourth more Roots, and larger sized than the adjoining Bed, which in Quantity, Culture and every other Respect, was the same. As it would be too tedious to stick a large Quantity, I think the above Method of raising and inverting the Plant the nighest Substitute for it; besides the Sun gets better to the Sides of the Beds, and by shading the Crown of the Plant keeps the Middle of the Ridges [Page] moist: But above all, I observed that inverting the Plant stops the Circulation and Perspiration, which is great at that Season of the Year, and seems to repell or throw down the Juices into the Roots; the old Haulm seems to die away by Degrees, and a new Vegetation insues in about three Weeks. In some Parts of Europe, the Haulm is cut off, but this certainly hurts the Tap Roots, for as soon as it is cut, a greater Number of new Shoots will come up; but the beforementioned Method affords the Roots near three Weeks in the Middle of Summer to grow, without being impoverished by the Shoots; however, every judicious Planter will try different Methods, and no doubt great Improvements may in future be made, by communicating to the Publick their several Observations, always remembering the Good of the Whole is to be preferred to that of a Few.

THE Madder Roots are seldom dug up in any Part of Europe the second Year, but it certainly is come to as much or more Maturity in Carolina, if dug in October or November, having then been about Twenty-one Months in the Ground. At any Rate it is then fit for Market, and though perhaps it may pay great Interest to such as can afford to keep it another Year in the Ground, and still keeping it clean; yet, as it has already become Merchantable, the Planter may, after it is properly dried as before, by spreading it on a boarded Floor, and having thrashed the Dirt and Sand out of it, have his Crop sent to Market. A Premium of five Pounds sterling an Acre was sometime ago offered by the Society of Arts to the Cultivator, and no doubt, by proper Application, a Bounty for raising it might be obtained. At present I can only add, that I wish it may succeed and become a valuable Product to this Province.

AARON LOOCOCK.

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Title statement

Some observations and directions for the culture of madder. Charlestown, South-Carolina, 1775.

Loocock, Aaron, 1733-1794.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2005-03.

ID [DLPS]

N11190

ID [TCP]

N11190

ID [STC]

Evans 14166

ID [NOTIS]

APX9628

ID [IMAGE-SET]

14166

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99026623

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 14166.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N11190)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 14166)

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— Some observations and directions for the culture of madder. Charlestown, South-Carolina, 1775., Loocock, Aaron, 1733-1794..

Extent

8 p. ; 21 cm.

Printed by Peter Timothy,. [Charleston, S.C. :: 1775]. (Signed on p. 8: Aaron Loocock.) (Ascribed to the press of Peter Timothy by Evans.)

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