274 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[March 24 



proofs of what we have advanced. It remains 

 for agricultural science, supported on the prin- 

 ciples of sound philosoi)liy, to destrntj ancient 

 popular prejudices, which are always injurious 

 to the progress and developement of the most 

 useful arts. 



Pastel was most pro^iably introduced from the 

 East into Italy, passed from llience into the 

 south of France, and was afterwards spread over 

 the rest cf Europe. It is now cuilivaled in Eng- j 

 land very extensively, and was introduced 250 

 years .since. 



It appears to have been used in France as 

 early as 1324. It was at that time allowed to 

 be exported upon paying a duly " for every 20 

 sous' worth of pastel of tour deniers. It appears 

 that in 1510 pastel was cultivated in the Roman 

 States, — that the leaves were suffered to fer- 

 ment like a dung h^ap, and were then used in 

 dieing blue, green, and black colors. As late as 

 . 1577, the diers of France and Germanv were 

 prohiliited from using indigo. Five hundred 

 thousand dollars' worth of pastel came annually 

 to Bourdeaux, from Toulouse, by (he river Ga- 

 ronne. In the Jirt of Painting it is said " Indigo 

 with while lead makes Turkish t/ue.'" 



It is also asserted, that " pastel makes a blue 

 colour for woollen cloths, and by a mixture with 

 other drugs, black, dun, violet, brown, green, 

 and in a word it is employed in all dark colors." 

 Henry IV. in 1609, " prohibited, on pain of 

 death, the use of a false and pernicious drug, 

 called Inde, (indigo)." In 1634 it was permitted. 

 In 1757 there was a decree, " that for ilieing 

 black or royal blue, the cloths shall be coloured 

 with pastel or woad. In 1G83 it is permitted to 

 use G lbs. of iudigo for each bale of pastel 200 

 lbs. Indigo costing at this time 2 or 3 iivres per 

 pound. U is stated that in 1812 there was cul- 

 tivated " at Thuiingia such a large quantity of 

 pastel, that the benclits which result theiefrom 

 cannot be compaicd, but to a mountain of a;old." 

 Its cultivation at Erfurt was disturbed in 1609 by 

 civil dissentions. Many of its richest inhabitants 

 ret. '"og to Gotlid and Weimar, its culture spread 

 ihere and at many other places. It is reckoned 

 (li.it Thuringia gained three tons of gold by ils 

 culture ; and in several towns are to be seen 

 mills and mill-stones which were used to grind 

 the pastel. Erfurt, in 1793, sold pastel to the 

 amount of 8000 rix dollars. 



Hakluyt says the English received pastel from 

 France in 1570 ; but that this plant bert»f thus 

 introduced into England, grew in perfection, to 

 ■fhe great injury of France. 



Queen Elizabeth one day having been struck 

 by the disagreeii'ble odour which was produced 

 from pastel in a state of fermentation, published 

 an edict, prohibiting to all persons the cultiva- 

 tion of pastel. This Queen would have made 

 a pleasant code of laws, if from a sentiment of 

 relined delicacy she had prohibited everytliing 

 ivhich was not agreeable to her senses. But 

 this lidiculous prohibition is no longer enforced, 

 and the English, now better informed, cultivate 

 the pastel in sutlicient quantity tor their own 

 consumption, and if the ijualily is not as good as 

 that of Lauragais, it nevertheless appears to 

 answer their purpose. 



Pastel is now only used mixed with indigo to 

 ferment the vats called pastel vals. 



-It is only necessary then to improve the prep- 

 aration of pastel so as to equal and even to sur- 

 p.iss the qualities of kidigo, and the first means 



consist in extracting the coloring flocculi. The 

 knowledge of the process employed to extract 

 the flocculi from the indigo plants, and the re- 

 sults which have been produced by men of merit 

 who have treated pastel in the same manner in- 

 duces us to found solid hopes ui-.on the solution 

 of this problem. Instead of cutting the plant 3 

 or 4 times in the year, as has been customary, 

 it is only necessary, perhaps, to let it mature to 

 produce a more perfect and abundant flocculi, 

 and of less difficult extraction." 



IMPF.RIAL DECREE. — July 4, 1810. 



There will be awarded 100,000 francs to any 

 person who shall discover the means of extract- 

 ing Irom an indigenous plant, and easy of culti- 

 vation, a flocculi proper to suiiply the place of 

 indigo, with regard to the price, the use, the 

 brilliancy i<nd solidity of its color. 



Art. 2. An equal prize will be given to any 

 person who shall furnish a process proper for 

 fixing an indigenous vegetalde color upon wool, 

 cotton, linen and siik, in a manner, to supply 

 the place of indigo, agreeably to ihe conditions 

 of the tiist article. 



Art. 3. A prize of 50,000 iVancs will be award- 

 ed to any person, who, by mixnig indigo with 

 an indigenous substance, or by using it iii a new 

 manner, shall diminii-h the quantity one halt, 

 and produce nevertheless the same elTert, boih 

 as lo the periection of the color and its per- 

 manency. 



A prize of 25,000 francs will be awardeil, if 

 ihe quantity ol' indigo is diminished one quarter, 

 upon the same conditions as above. 

 Title Second. 



Art. 4. There will be awarded a prize of 25, 

 000 francs to any person who shall find out an 

 easy and sure method of extracting from the 

 pastel plant, (isalis tinctoria, Lin.) tbe coloring 

 flocculi, and the means of using it in dicing. 



Art. 5. A prize of 100,000 francs will be 

 awarded, if there can be obtained or given to 

 this flocculi, without injuring its solidity, the 

 fineness and brilliancy of indigo. 

 Title Third. 



Art. 6. There will be awarded a prize of 25,- 

 000 francs to any person who shall m.ike known 

 a sure and easy process to color wool and silk 

 with Prussian blue ; Ihe manner of obtaining an 

 uniform, brilliant, equal, and unalterable color, 

 which shall not change by wear or washing. 



An. 7. The competitors must address to our 

 minister ot the interior, a description of their 

 processes, accompanied with a sample ot the 

 stufls died, or the prepared materials, in suffi- 

 cient quantities to verify the process. 



.^rl. 8. Our ministers of Ihe interior, and ot 

 the public treasury, are charged with the exe- 

 cution of the present decree. 



Signed, NAPOLEON. 



I have extracted the foregoing from Gen. H. 

 A. .S. Deaiiuoun's translation fiom the F'rench of 

 a treatise on Pastel or Woad, with a desire to 

 invite the atlenlion of the southern [ilanters lo 

 this article, (and to indigo in particular) ; and 

 our agriculturists in general, who are inclined 

 to love the merinos, shear their own wool, and 

 wear it. To the rultivalion of this plant, the 

 farni(!rs of New F.uirland may turn some atten- 

 tion by way of experiment. 



A soil of mean consistence is to be preferred, 

 rather clayey than sandy, fat, rich land and not 



very moist. If it is loo light, it can be improv- 

 ed by compost or a mixtute of earths. Alluvial 

 land is very congenial to pastel when it is not 

 too moist, particularly where it is taken from a 

 saline bank of the ocean. In Languedoc, earth 

 from the drains and about the houses is prefer- 

 red as the most nutritive and substantial manure. 

 Natural meadows, where wheal has grown too 

 vigorously, are excellent for pastel, if they are 

 well ploughed and harrowed. According to the 

 adage of the Thuringians, meado-js land is the 

 land for Pastel. 



• The seed may be sown broad cast, or in rows 

 18 inches apart, or in ridges of 3 feet each, — 

 about 2 hiishels per acre. It may be the earli- 

 est sf ed in the eailh. I Ihink it would \^ nest 

 to roll the ground after harrowing, with a li^ht 

 harrow, or raking the beds or ridges. 



I wi'uld not recommend farmers in general lo 

 attempt the termentalion or pre|)aration of pas- 

 tel, or Ihe woad plant, for the ii«e of our diers; 

 as it is now received from England or France. 

 These cultivators who live in ihe vicinity of 

 nur blue dieing establishments, should be en- 

 couraged by the concerned, to raise pastel and 

 lo sell It to them, green or dry, clean, free tV itn 

 weeds and dirl ; it may then be washed and fer- 

 mented and cured lor use ; or the farmer may 

 crop it, and save it dry, as a second crop or 

 rowen, taking care not to heat it. I should 

 think it worth in the dry leaf 60 dollars per ton, 

 perhaps the manufacturers and farmers should 

 ondersiand and enlighten each other upon this 

 subject. 



It is only a few years since we imported . 

 shears, diers, teazels, &c. We now send our 

 Patent Shears to England — and produce a great 

 many good Diers and other workmen — raise 

 great quaolities of Teazels — lliousiuids ol super-, 

 fin« Sheep — and excel Europe in Cloths 4t ihe 

 same regul.ir importing price — and our colours 

 are as good. A MANUFaCTL'RER. 



RHODE ISLAND. 

 A writer in the Providence Microcosm fur- 

 nishes the following particulars respecting that 

 celebrated spot. 



Oa the Island i<f Rhode Island, which is eleven 

 miles long, and five miles broad, there are seven 

 hundred miles of double wall, from 11 to 5 feet 

 high, most of which is handsome and in excel- 

 lent order. This Wiill has all been built wiihin 

 one hundred and ninety years, and the expense 

 of building it is estimated to have cost more 

 I than the whole Island would sell for, land and 

 j buildings. The wall, if it were in one direct 

 i line, would reach from the town of Newport, in ' 

 [Rhode Island, to Michigan Territory. The lots 

 on the Island are under a high state of cultiva- 

 tion, and it may be Iruly said lo have an aspect 

 like the garden of Eden. In this Ishmd, there 

 are fifly-l'ive square miles ; and perhaps in no 

 part of the world are there more products of the 

 earth raised for man and beast than are on this 

 Island, annual!}', within the same compass of 

 ground. Besides all this, it is as healthy a place 

 as any in this country, and a nmre dellghttul 

 surotner residence cannot be found on the globe. 



CONSERVED PEARS. 

 Put peeled pears in a stone (lan with water ; 

 let tliem simmer till they are soli ; »kjm tbem, 

 arid when cold siaimer Ibem for about ten min- 



