The plant is raised from seed, and requires three years to come to maturity. It is, however, often pulled in eighteen months, without injury to the quality, the quantity only being smaller. It requires a light vegetable mould, that retains the greatest quantity of water and adheres the least to the tools. When the soil is impregnated with an alkaline matter, the root acquires a red color, in other cases it is yellow. The latter is preferred in England, from the long habit of using Dutch madder, which is of this color; but in France, the red sells at a higher price, being used for Turkey red die. The Zealand or Dutch madder is prepared for market in a manufactured state; and is known in trade by the terms, _mull_, _gamene_, _ombro_, and _crops_. In some other countries, the roots are packed up promiscuously, and the article is sold by the quintal. The price of madder, like every thing else, is affected by the quantity in market, and ranges in France from its minimum 22, to 100 francs a quintal. It does not deteriorate by age. The quantity used in this country is very considerable--but nothing equal to that required in Great Britain. For the particular manner of cultivating madder, the reader is referred to an excellent essay upon that subject, from the pen of M. De Casparin, which was laid before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and a prize awarded to its author. The _mulberry_ is grown with little difficulty in these latitudes, and therefore, silk may be produced in abundance, and rendered an article of domestic and commercial consequence. Plantations have already been commenced in several of the parishes, which will soon test the feasibility of the undertaking. A gentleman by the name of Vasseur, recently from France, has purchased land and made preparations to enter into that business, under many years of experience. In the parish of St. James, particularly, considerable attention is being paid to the culture of silk. It would be extremely gratifying to be able to lay the result of these experiments before the reader; but the necessary information is not at hand. _Hemp_ is raised in Missouri and Kentucky to some extent, as the quantities annually landed on the levee in New Orleans afford ample evidence. The demand for it will be good for many years, and the hint should not be neglected by the citizens of Louisiana, who possess the higher grounds, which are calculated for its production. When it is considered that this is a raw material of vast demand, which has heretofore been furnished from abroad, there can scarcely be any excuse for neglecting the culture, provided the profits be equal to those on sugar and cotton. The time may come, when even foreign nations will look to this republic for cordage and duck; at all events, we should not depend upon them for articles necessary for domestic purposes, and especially for those which may with propriety be classed "among the sinews of war."