436 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



best, < so that at length it comes to that heat which is indis- 

 pensable to the production of good woad.' 



When the leaves begin to be reduced to a paste, the 

 surface ot the heap must be kept as smooth as possible, 

 and free from cracks ; as this prevents the escape ot much 

 carbonic acid gas, which is furnished by the lime, as well 

 as by ( .he fermentation ; ' and it also preserves it trom the 

 fly, magots, and worms, which often are seen in those parts 

 w iere the heat is not so great, or the lime is not in suffi- 

 cient quantity 10 destroy them. It is surprising to observe 

 what a degree of heat they will bear. This attention to 

 rendering the surface of the couch (the heap) even and 

 compact, is essentially necessary, and to turning the woad 

 as a dung exactly, diging perpendicularly to the bottom. 

 The couching-house (where the heap is made) should have 

 an even floor of stone or brick, and the walls should be the 

 same, and every part of the couch of woad should be beaten 

 with a shovel, and troden, to render it as compact as 

 possible.* 



* The Grower of woad should erect a long shed in the 

 centre of his land, facing the south, the ground lying on a 

 descent, so as to admit the sun to the back part ; and here 

 the woad should be put down as gathered, and spread thin 

 at one end, keeping Children to turn it towards the other 

 end,' and 4 the couch should be at the other end.' 



Mr. Parish supposes the degree of heat, 'necessary to 

 produce that change of smell which is necessary to finish a 

 couch ol woad properly for the Dier, to be about irom one 

 hundred to one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahrenheitj 

 and that it cannot be regularly obtained but by temperance 

 and time.' 



Good woad, such as the richest land produces, will be of 

 a blackish green and mouldy; and, when small lumps are 

 pulled asunder, the fractures and fibres are brown ; and 

 these fibres will draw apart like small threads; and the 

 more stringy they are, and the darker the external appear- 

 ance, and if of a green hue, the better the woad ; but poor 

 land produces it of a light brownish green. The fibres only 

 serve to show that it has not suffered by putrefaction.' 



When the couch or heap of woad ' has attained its due 

 degree of fermentation, it is to be opened, spread, and turn- 

 ed, until regularly cooled; and then it is in condition for 

 sale : But the immediate use of wood new from the couch 

 is not advised by Diers who are experienced; for new wood 

 jp not so regular in its fermentation in the blue-vat.' 



We have thus given the substance of the communica- 

 tion of Mr. Parish, partly in his own words, and partly in 

 our own, where we supposed we could be more explicit and 



