Growing and Kiln-Drying Madder Root for the Dyer (Tomlinson, 1854)

"The plant is propagated by shoots, which are planted in August, a foot apart, and allowed to remain two seasons, with attention to weeding."

In August set madder shoots (Rubia tinctorum) a foot (30 cm) apart in dug ground. Keep the bed weeded for two seasons. The stalks die back each year; the root is perennial.

In the second year the plants flower and come to perfection. After their leaves have fallen, dig up the roots.

Dry the roots on the outside in the air and then in a kiln. In very warm climates they are dried without any artificial heat.

Thrash the dried roots like corn to remove the dark outer skin. The skin and fragments are an inferior madder called mull: pack it away separately.

Put the naked roots back in the kiln at a higher heat than before, with a current of air through the kiln to carry off the vapours from the roots, which would spoil the colour. Store the dry root in sacks, away from damp.

From Charles Tomlinson (ed.), **Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts** (1854), vol. II, "Madder" (checked on the archive.org scan cyclopdiaofuse02tomlrich, p. 209). He gives no kiln temperatures. Growers then ground the root between mill-stones or under knives like a tan-bark mill into a coarse red-orange powder. The metric sizes, the tools and the sacks are ours.