232 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



green color and are highly succulent ; as when they are let 

 remain till they begin to turn pale, much of their goodness 

 is said to be expended, and they become less in quantity, and 

 of an inferior quality for the purposes of the dyer. Where 

 the lands are well managed they will often afford two or 

 three gatherings, but the best cultivators seldom take more 

 than two, which are sometimes mixed together in the manu- 

 facturing. It is necessary that the after-croppmgs, when 

 they are taken, should be constantly kept separate from the 

 others, as they would injure the whole if blended, and con- 

 siderably diminish the value of the produce. It is said that 

 the best method, where a third cropping is either wholly 

 or partially made, is to keep it separate, forming it into an 

 inferior kind of woad. In the execution of this sort of busi- 

 ness, a number of baskets are usually provided in proportion 

 to the extent of the crop, and into these the leaves are thrown 

 as they are taken from the plants. The leaves are detached 

 from the plants, by grasping them firmly with the hand, and 

 giving them a sort of a sudden twist. In favorable seasons, 

 where the soils are rich, the plants will often rise to the 

 height of eight or ten inches ; but in other cicumstances, 

 they seldom attain more than four or five. 



The quantity produced is from a ton to a ton and a half 

 of green leaves. The price varies considerably; but for 

 woad of the prime quality, it is often from twenty-five to 

 thirty pounds* the ton, and for that of an inferior quality, six 

 or seven, and sometimes much more. 



To prepare it for the dyer, it is bruised by machinery to 

 express the watery part ; it is afterwards formed into balls 

 and fermented, re-ground, and fermented in vats, where it is 

 evaporated into cakes in the manner of indigo. The haulm 

 is burned for manure or spread over the straw-yard, to be fer- 

 mented along with straw-dung. To save seed, leave some 

 of the plants undenuded of their leaves the second year, and 

 when it is ripe, in July or August, treat it like turnep seed. 

 The only diseases to which the woad is liable, are the mildew 

 and rust. When young, it is often attacked by the fly, and 

 the ground is obliged to be re-sown, and this more than once, 

 even on winter -plowed grass-lands." 



WELD OR DYER'S WEED (Reseda luteola, Fig. 51). 



Weld is much used by the manufacturers of various 

 * The pound sterling may be reckoned at about five dollars. 



