B56 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



5370. The after-culture of the woad consists in hoeing, thinning, prong-stirring, and 

 weeding, which operations may be practised by hand or horse tools, as in the culture of teazle. 



5371. In respect to the business of gathering the crops with the spring-sown ones, the leaves v/ill gene- 

 rally be ready to be gathered towards the latter end of June or beginning of July, according to the 

 nature of the soil, season, and climate ; but for those })ut in at a later period in the summer, they are 

 often fit to be gathered earlier. This business should, however, constantly be executed as soon as the 

 leaves are fully grown, while they retain their perfect 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. In the execution of 

 this sort of business, a number of baskets are usually provided in proportion to the extent of the crop, 

 into which the leaves are thrown as they are taken from the plants, which is effected by the hand, by 

 grasping them firmly <ind 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 circumstances they 

 seldom attain more than four or five : and where the lands are well managed in the culture of the plants, 

 they will often afFord two or three gatherings, but the best cultivators seldom take more than two, which 

 are sometimes mixed together in the manufacturing of them. It is necessary, that the after croppings, 

 when they are taken-, are constantly kept separate from the others, as they would injure the whole if 

 blended together, and considerably 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. 



5372. The produce is mostly from about 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. 



5373. To prepare it for the dyer, it is bruised by machinery to press 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 fermented along with straw-dung. 



5374. The use of woad'in dyeing, is as a basis for the black and other colors. 



5375. 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 turnip-seed. 



5376. The only diseases to which the woad is liable, are the mildew and rust ; when 

 young it is often attacked by the fly, and obliged to be re-sown, and this even on winter- 

 ploughed grass lands more than once. 



ScjBSECX. 6. JFeld or Dyers Weed. Reseda ItUeola, L. Bodec. Trig. L. and Cappari- 

 decB,J. Gaude, Fr. ; Waud, Ger. (Jig. 593.) 



5377. Weld is an imperfect biennial, with small fusiform 

 roots, and a leafy stem from one to three feet in heighth. 

 It is a native of Britain, flowers in June and July, and 

 ripens its seeds in August and September. It is cultivated 

 in a few places in England, and chiefly in Essex, for its 

 spike of flowers and sometimes also for its leaves, both of 

 which are used in dyeing. 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 advan- 

 tage for the farmer over all other coloring plants, that it 

 only requires to be taken up and dried, when it is fit for 

 the dyer. It is, however, an exhausting crop. 



5378. Weld will grow on any soil, but, fertile loams pro- 

 duce the best crops. In Essex, it is grown on a stiff 

 loam, nioderately moist. The soil being brought to a fine 

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

 generally broad-cast. The quantity of seed 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 corn crops in the manner of clover, which, when 

 the soil is in a very rich state, may answer, provided also that hoeing, weeding, and 

 stirring take place as soon the corn crop is cut. The best crops, however, will obviously 

 be the result of drilling and cultivating the crop alone, llie drills may be a foot 

 asunder, and the plants thinned to six inches in the row. In the broad-cast mode, it is 

 usual to thin them to six or eight inches distance every way : often when weld succeeds 

 corn crops, it is never either thinned, wed, or hoed, but left to itself till the plants are 

 in full blossom. 



5379. 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 to two feet and a half in height. It is thought by some advantageous to pull it rather 

 early, without waiting for the ripening of the seeds, as by this means there will not only be the greatest 

 proportion of dye, but the land will be left at liberty for the reception of a crop of wheat or turnips; but 

 in this case, a small part must be left solely for the purpose of seed. In the execution of the work the 

 plants are drawn up by the roots in small handfuls, and set up to dry, after each handful has been tied up 



