growers.

Madder is extensively grown on the central table land of Afghanistan,
forming one of the leading products of Beloochistan.; and, according
to Mr. Pottinger, it sells in the Kelat Bazaar at about 10 lbs. for
2s. The cultivation there pursued is as follows:--The ground is
repeatedly ploughed, and laid out finally in small trenches, in which
the seed is sown, covered slightly with earth, and then the whole is
flooded. Whilst thus irrigated, the trenches are filled with a mixture
of rich manure and earth. The plants appear in about ten days, and
attain a height of three or four feet during the first summer. They
are cut down in September and used as fodder for cattle. Subsequently,
and until spring arrives, the ground is manured and repeatedly
flooded. During the second year's growth, the plants which are
intended to produce seed are set apart, but the stems of the remainder
are cut every four or six weeks, in order to increase the size and
goodness of the roots.

Madder is said to repay a nett profit of 200 dollars to the acre,
when properly managed. It produced on the farm of a gentleman, who
has devoted some attention to this product in Ohio, at the rate of
2,000 lbs. per acre, and it may be made to produce 3,000 lbs., which
is a greater yield than the average crops of Germany and Holland. Nine
acres were planted by another person in the United States, in 1839,
which he harvested in 1842. The labor required is said to be from 80
to 100 days work per acre.

In the third year the stems are pruned as in the two preceding, and in
September the roots are dug up. The roots are fusiform and thin,
without any ramifications, and usually from three to five feet long.
As soon as raised, they are immediately cut into small pieces and
dried, and are then merchantable.

Mr. Joseph Swift, an enterprising American farmer, of Erie county,
Ohio, who occupies about 400 acres of choice land, mostly alluvial, in
the valley of the Vermilion river, seven miles from Lake Erie, has
detailed his practice in the "New Genesee Farmer" (an agricultural
periodical), for March, 1843. His directions must be understood as
intended for those who wish to cultivate only a few acres, and cannot
afford much outlay of capital. Those who desire to engage in the
business on an extensive scale, would need to adopt a somewhat
different practice:--

_Soil and preparation._--" The soil should be a deep, rich, sandy
loam, free from weeds, roo