feooK VI. BASTAUD SAPPRDN. 857 



by one of the stalks, in the number of four together in an erect position against each other.' Somctitnes 

 they, however, become sufficiently dry by turning without being set up. After they have remained till 

 fully dry, which is mostly effected in the course of a week or two, they are bound up into larger bundles, 

 that contain each sixty handfuls, and which are of the weight of fifty-six pounds each : sixty of these bun- 

 dles constituting a load. These last, in places where this kind of crop is much grown, are tied up by a string 

 made for the purpose, and sold under the title of weld cord. 



5380. The produce of weld depends much on the nature of the season ; but from 

 half a load to a load and a half is the quantity most commonly afforded, which is usually 

 sold to the dyers at from five or six to ten or twelve pounds the load, and sometimes 

 considerably more. It is mostly bought by persons who afterwards dispose of it to the 

 dyers occasionally, as they find it convenient. The demand for it is sometimes very little, 

 while at others it is so great as to raise the price to a high degree. It is sometimes gathered 

 green and treated like woad or indigo; but in general the dried herb is used by the dyers 

 in a state of decoction. 



5381. The use of weld in dyeing is for giving a yellow color to cotton, woollen, mohair, 

 silk, and linen. Blue cloths are dipped in a decoction of it, which renders thena green ; 

 and the yellow color of the paint, called Dutch pink, is obtained from weld. 



5382. To save seed, select a few of the largest and healthiest plants, and leave them to 

 ripen. The seed is easily separated. 



5383. The chief disease of weld is the mildew, to which it is very liable when young, 

 and this is one reason that it is often sown with other crops. 



SuBSECT. 7. The Bastard Sajfron. Carthamus tinctorius, L. Syngen. Polyg. jEqual. L. 

 and CynarocephalecE, J. Carthame, Fr. ; Wilder Safran, Ger. {fg. 170.) 



5384. The bastard saffron is an annual plant, which rises with a stiff ligneous stalk, 

 two feet and a half or three feet high, dividing upwards into many branches, with ovate 

 pointed sessile leaves. The flowers grow single at the extremity of each branch; the 

 heads are large, enclosed in a scaly calyx ; each scale is broad at the base, flat, and formed 

 like a leaf of the plant, terminating in a sharp spine. The lower part of the calyx 

 spreads open, but the scales above closely embrace the florets, which stand out near an 

 inch above the calyx ; these are of a fine saffron color, and this is the part which is 

 gathered for the use of the dyer. 



5385. It grows naturally in Egypt and some of the warm parts of Asia, but being an annual our summers 

 admit of its goings through a course of existence in this country. Sown in April, it flowers in July and 

 August, and the seeds ripen in autumn ; but if the season proves cold and moist, when the plants are in 

 flower, there will be no good seeds produced ; so that there are few seasons wherein the seeds of this plant 

 come to perfection in England. 



5386. It is cvJtivated in great plenty in Germany, and was formerly grown in England. In HongJiton''s 

 Collections, it is related by a gentleman, in 1683, that twenty-five acres in the vale of Evesham, in Gloucester- 

 shire, was sowed with this seed ; the soil a mixed sand of about fifteen shillings an acre value ; it bore a 

 crop of wheat the year before, was dressed for barley, and had a harrowing extraordinary. This piece of 

 ground was taken for two years by an adventurer in this seed, at the rate of twenty-five pounds per acre, in 

 consideration that this plant is said to be a great impoverisher of land. He sold the flowers in London 

 for 10/. per pound ; a price, he said, much below bis expectation. He gained above thirty shillings 

 an acre clear profit, excepting the price of the seed ; but of this there was a plentiful return (about one 

 hundred and forty bushels) which, had it been well managed,would have amounted to a considerable value. 

 Like most other manut^ctorial plants it is considered an impoverisher of the ground j both by exhausting 

 it, and by affording but little haulm as manure. 



5387. The soil it requires is light, and the preparation and culture, according to Von 

 Thaer, equal to that of the garden. The seed is sown in rows, or deposited in patches, 

 two feet apart every way, and when the plants come up, they are thinned out, so as to 

 leave only two or three together. The soil is stirred and wed during summer. In Au- 

 gust the flowers begin to expand : the petals of the florets are then to be cut off with a 

 blunt knife and dried in the shade, or on a kiln, like the true saffron. This operation is 

 made in the early part of the day, and continued daily till October. The plants are then 

 pulled up, sheaved and shocked, and threshed for their seed. 



5388. The use of the flower of bastard saffron is chiefly in dyeing. It is also put in soups, 

 pies, and puddings, like the leaves of the marigold or the common saffron. The oil pro- 

 duced from the seed is used both in medicine and painting. The stalks of the plant are 

 commonly burnt as manure. 



SuBSECT. 8. Of various Plants ivhich have been proposed as substitutes for the Thread, 

 and dyeing Plants grown in Britain. 



5389. Though feto of these are likely to come into cultivation, yet it may be useful to 

 notice them with a view of indicating our resources for extraordinary occasions ; leading 

 the young cultivator to reflect on the richness of that immense store-house, the vegetable 

 kingdom ; and pointing out sources of experiment and research for the amateur agricul- 

 turist. Every kind of limitation has a tendency to degrade the mind, and lessen enter- 

 prise. Tlie plants to be here enumerated, naturally arrange themselves 9s thread plants 

 and coloring plants. 



5390. The thread plants that have been tried are the asclepias syriaca, urtica dioica. 



