'210 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Swift of Ohio has raised "2000 bbls. per acre in one 

 crop of four years growth, at a nctt profit including all charge; 

 of rent &e., of $200 per acre. The roots of madder aw 

 also a good food for cattle, but the expense and delay of pro- 

 during it unfit it for this use among us. 



W O A D (fsatis tinctoria) 



Is considerably used in this country for dyeing and generally 

 as a base for blues, blacks and some other colors, and for 

 these it supplies the place of indigo. There are several vari- 

 eties of woad, but the common biennial plant is the only one 

 cultivated. London says 



" THE SOIL for woad should be deep and perfectly fresh, 

 such as those of the rich, mellow, loamy, and deep vegetable 

 kind. Where this culture is carried to a considerable degree 

 of perfection, the deep, rich, putrid, alluvial soils on the flat 

 tracts extending upon the borders of the large rivers, are 

 chiefly employed for the growth of this sort of crop; and it 

 has been shown by repeated trials that it answers most per- 

 fectly when they are broken up for it immediately, from a 

 state of sward. 



The preparation of the soil, when woad is to be grown on 

 grass land, may either be effected by deep plowings, with 

 the aid of the winter's frost, cross plowing and harrowing in 

 spring ; by deep plowing and harrowing in spring ; by paring 

 and burning ; or by trench-plowing, or spade-trenching. The 

 first mode appears the worst, as it is next to impossible to re- 

 duce old turf in one year, and, even if this is done, the danger 

 from the grub and wire-worm is a sufficient argument against 

 it. By plowing deep in February, and soon afterwards sow- 

 ing, the plants may geminale before the grub is able to rise 

 to the surface ; by trench -plowing, the same purpose will be 

 better attained; and, best of all, by spade-trenching. But a 

 method equally effectual with the first, more expeditious, and 

 more destructive to grubs, insects, and other vermin, which 

 are apt to feed on the plants in their early growth, is that of 

 paring and burning. This is, however, chiefly practised 

 where the sward is rough and abounds with rushes, sedge, 

 and other plants of the coarse kind, but it might be had Re- 

 course to on others, with benefit. 



THE MODE or SOWING is generally broad-cast, but the 

 plant might be most advantageously grown in rows and cul- 

 tivated with the horse-hoe. The rows may be nine inches or 

 a foot apart, and the seed deposited two inches deep. The 



