ifgi. on dyer''s wee3. y:'<j^ 



by one of the stalks of itself, and set on its end to dry, 

 three or four bundles in one place leaning towards each o- 

 ther at top to prevent them from falling down. If the 

 seeds are wanted, the tops fliould not be turned downward 

 during these operations, to prevent them from being lost j 

 for as the capsules are open at the top the seeds drop out 

 ■whenever the plant is put downward after they have at- 

 tained maturity. 



If tlie plant is intended to be a biennial it may be sown 

 either by itself or with some kinds of spring corn ; by 

 itself it may succeed a crop of early pease, or other crop' 

 that comes off the ground in the month of July. If sown 

 with barley, its growth will be so much retarded as to pre- 

 vent it from flowering that season. In either of these cases 

 it will resist the winter's frost perfectly well, and come to 

 flower in the spring •, but I fliould in general prefer the 

 spring culture, which I have never seen to fail. 



If it were cultivated merely for the sake of its seed's, it 

 ought to be sown in autumn, and the plants set by the hoe , 

 to six or eight inches a part, if on a good soil, and in these 

 circumstances it becomes a very strong robust plant, rising 

 to four or five feet in height, and yielding a prodigious 

 quantity of seeds ; but as such robust plants are not es- 

 teemed by the manufacturer, and as seeds can always be 

 obtained in abundance, merely by fliaking the plants, it 

 ifi never adviseable to cultivate them in this manner after 

 the plant has been once introduced into any place. 



When it is thoroughly dry it may be put up in a stack 

 or carried, to market. It is in this state it is in general 

 employed ; but when it grows upon the spot it may be used 

 by the dyer in its green state, though it ,is only employ- 

 ed by the calico printer after being dried. The demand, 

 for it is so great at present, that a single house in Man- 

 thcsLcr mak's use of at least eighty tons in a season ; the 



