This important root is already cultivated to a considerable extent in Russia but not nearly in sufficient quantity to meet the local demand; so that large quantities are imported from Holland and elsewhere, every year.
The quantity of madder, madder-root, and garaneine annually imported into the United Kingdom is exceedingly large, over 15,000 tons, as is shown by a reference to the following figures:—
| Madder. | Madder roots. | Garancine. | Total. | |
| cwts. | cwts. | cwts. | cwts. | |
| 1848 | 81,261 | 139,463 | 5,955 | 276,679 |
| 1849 | 92,736 | 161,986 | 4,969 | 259,691 |
| 1850 | 100,248 | 161,613 | 5,845 | 267,706 |
| 1851 | 92,925 | 202,091 | 9,382 | 304,398 |
| 1852 | 84,385 | 179,813 | — | — |
We imported from France, duty free, the following:—
| Madder. | Official value. | Madder-root. | ||
| cwts. | £ | cwts. | £ | |
| 1848 | 54,084 | 122,851 | 25,068 | 70,749 |
| 1849 | 57,108 | 131,059 | 23,459 | 81,274 |
| 1850 | 54,559 | 123,628 | 13,693 | 55,263 |
| 1851 | 65,577 | 151,502 | 34,017 | 167,721 |
The price in the Liverpool market, in June 1853, for Bombay madder-roots was £1 18s. to £2 14s. the cwt.
INDIAN MADDER.—Rubia cordifolia, or Munjestha, a variety with white flowers, a native of Siberia, is cultivated largely in the East, particularly about Assam, Nepaul, Bombay, Scinde, Quitta, China, &c., for its dye-stuff, and is known as Munjeet. A small quantity is exported from China and India; about 338 Indian maunds were shipped from Calcutta in 1840, and 2,328 in 1841. It fetches in the London and Liverpool markets from 20s. to 25s. and 30s. per cwt., duty free; 405 tons were imported into Liverpool from Bombay and Calcutta, in 1849, and 525 tons in 1850, but none was imported in 1851 and 1852.
It was remarked by the Jury in 1851, at the Great Exhibition, that this is a valuable dye-stuff, and hitherto not so well appreciated as it deserves, for some of the colors dyed with it are quite as permanent as those dyed with madder, and even more brilliant. Its use however is gradually increasing, and it is unquestionably well worthy the attention of dyers.
LOGWOOD.—The logwood of commerce is the red heart wood, or duramen, of a fine lofty growing tree (Haematroxylon Campechianum), growing in Campeachy and the bay of Honduras, and which is also now common in the woods of Jamaica and St. Domingo. It is principally imported as a dye wood, cut into short lengths. We chip, grind, and pack it into casks and bags, ready for the dyers, hatters, and printers' use, who esteem it as affording the most durable deep red and black dyes. It is sometimes used in medicine as an astringent. That grown in Jamaica is least valued that of Honduras, Tobasco, and St. Domingo, fetches a somewhat higher price; but that imported from Campeachy direct, is the most esteemed. The annual imports into Liverpool are about 1,300 tons from Honduras, 100 from Tobasco, and 1,800 from Campeachy.