Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/365

 MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 351

years pad, upon an average, more than 180, cool, per ann. for that commodity. Jn England there is grouiid better adapted to thegrowth or madder, than the bell land they have in Holland, and it may be ra'fed at lefs expence. The legifla- cure have been io well convinced, therefore, of the national utility ot raifing madder, as to pafs two ia-.vs, in the lail feffion, to afcertain the tithes for 14 years; and the fociety for the encouragement of arts. Ifc. have offered a handfome premium to promote the planting thereof.

The root of the cultivated mad- der (our author fays) is compofed of many lon^ fibres larger than a goofe quill ; they are taper and much branched, of a brown colour on the outfide, but clear, tranfpa- rent, and of an orange colour within, having a tough flender pith in the middle, of a bright yellow colour, of a fweetifh talle, mixed with a little bitter ; from thefe arife many four-cornered ftalks, which grow from four to »ix or feven feet high, according to the goodnefs of the land ; they are armed with ihcrt herbaceous fpines, and at each joint are gar- nifhed with five or fix fpear-fhaped leaves, about three inches long, and almoft one broad in the mid- dle, drawing to a point at each end ; their upper furfaccs are fm®oth, but their mid-rib oa the under fide is armed with fhort, crooked, herbaceous fpines, which faften to the clothes of thofe who rub againll them. The leaves are placed in whorls round the ftalks, fpread- ing out every way like the points of a ftar. From the fide of the Pa!k, at each joint, cortie out the IjcUlaiks which fupport the flowers;

they are oppofite on each fids- the ftalk, and branch into fe- veral divifions, having a few fmallL leaves at bottom, in fhape like the other; there are fometimes three of thefe at the fame joint, and at others but two. The flowers are fmall, of a bright yel- low colour, and have but one pe- tal or leaf, which is cut inro four parts, which fpread open. Thefe appear in July, and are fometimet fucceeded by fmall, rough, burry feeds, growing by pairs, which never ripen in this country. The ftalk or haulm of this plant de- cays in autumn, and new fhoots arife in the fpring; the roots fend out m.any fide fibres to a good dif- tance, and thefe alfo put out fhoots, whereby the planes propa- gate greatly.

The country where this plant grows naturally, is fuppofed to be the Levant. 1 was iniformed by a gentleman, who brought over fe- veral fpecimens of the plant to the late Sir Hans Sloane, that he gathered them between Scanderoon and Aleppo, where he faw the plants growing wild without cuU ture.

Mr. Miller next gives a curious account of the culture, S:c. of this plant, as praclifed by the Dutch, with drawings, viz. plan of the cold flove, fec^ion of the kiln- room and kiln, plan and feftioa of the drying tower, and plan and fe<51ion of the pounding-houfe. His method of cultivating it in Eng- land, take in his own words, as fullows.

'• The land upon which I have found madder thrive befi, is a foft fandy loam; and if it hus been in tillage fome years, it will be better than that which is frelh broken

up.