WELD. 



233 



fabrics, as a dye. It has not to my 

 knowledge been cultivated in this 

 country. I again quote from 

 Loudon : " Weld is an imperfect 

 biennial, with small fusiform roots, 

 and a leafy stem from one to three 

 feet in height. It is a native of 

 Britain, flowers in June and July, 

 and ripens its seeds in August and 

 September. Its culture may be 

 considered the same as that of woad, 

 only being a smaller plant it is not 

 thinned out to so great a distance. 

 It has this advantage for the farmei 

 over all other coloring plants, that 

 it only requires to be taken up and 

 FIO. si. dried, when it is fit for the dyer. It 



is an exhausting crop. 



Weld will grow on any soil, but fertile loams produce 

 the best crops. The soil being brought to a fine tilth, the 

 seed is sown in April or the beginning of May, generally 

 broadcast. 



The quantity of seed used, is from two quarts to a gallon 

 per acre, and it should either be fresh, or if two or three 

 years old, steeped a few days in water previously to being 

 sown. Being a biennial, and no advantage obtained from it 

 the first year, it is sometimes sown with grain crops in the 

 manner of clover, which when the soil is in a very rich state, 

 may answer, provided that hoeing, weeding and stirring take 

 place as soon as the grain crop is cut. The best crops will 

 obviously be the result of drilling and cultivating the crop 

 alone. 



Sowing. The drills may be a foot asunder, and the plants 

 'thinned to six inches in the row. In the broadcast mode, it 

 is usual to thin them to six or eight inches' distance every 

 way. Often, when weld succeeds grain crops, it is never 

 either thinned, weeded, or hoed, but left to itself till the 

 plants are in full blossom. 



The crop is taken by pulling up the entire plant ; and 

 the proper period for this purpose is when the bloom has 

 been produced the whole length of the stems, and the plants 

 are just beginning to turn of a light or yellowish color ; as 

 in the beginning or middle of July in the second year. The 

 plants are usually from one foot to two feet and a half in 



