FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 435 



Me advises, therefore, never to cultivate more than two 

 crops successively on the same ground, from an opinion that 

 the want of a change in this crop, and some others, i* the 

 cause of their becoming more luble to the depredations of 

 insects. Be this as it may, we have no doubt but that a 

 proper solution of salt and water, applied to the roots of the 

 plants, would have destroyed the wire worm $$ effectually as 

 the application of the lime. 

 See INSECTS. 



The leaves ot this plant, when grown on good land, and 

 in a good season, grow very large and long ; arid when they 

 should be gathered, a brownish spot, inclining to a purple 

 towards its centre, appears near the ends; while the other 

 parts of the leaves still appear green, but a little tinged 

 with yellow. 



The leaves are to be gathered from two to four, and even 

 five, times in a season, as Mr. Parish once experienced; 

 and for the next Spring he saved an acre for seed, of which 

 he had a good crop. He also picked off the young seedling 

 sprouts irom what he had thus saved for seed, and mix- 

 ed them with his first gathering of what was newly sown, 

 which he found to answer very well. But at another time, 

 when he let these sprouts grow too long, they became too 

 hard, and were of little value. 



When a second crop is to be taken from the ground, it 

 should be ploughed up in ridges in the Fall, after the last 

 gathering of the leaves; but, where wheat is to follow, the 

 ploughing for that crop must be sufficiently early for sow- 

 Ing it in season. 



After describing the common method of preparing woad t 

 he proceeds to describe the process he pursues for this 

 purpose, which he says is beyond comparison the best, and 

 is as follows : 



After gathering the leaves, they are to be put to dry, and 

 to be turned so often as to prevent their heating so much 

 as to be reduced to a paste. In wet weather, a stove is to 

 be used for this purpose. When a quantity is sufficiently 

 dried, which in England requires about a week (but less 

 time would probably answer here) it is to be thrown into a 

 heap, where, if not too dry, it will begin to heat and ferment; 

 if too wet, it will rot, but not properly ferment, nor readily 

 become in a condition for the Dier. 



If the heap is too dry for fermenting, it is to be moistened 

 with limewater, applied by a wateringpot. When the heat 

 increases too rapidly, the heap must be turned, and very 

 fine flour-lime strewed between different layers. That 

 which requires most lime to preserve a temperate degree 

 of fermentation, and takes most time in fermenting, is the 



