DYER'S BROOM. 59 



loads, about the month of July ; and the season of " wood- 

 waxen" was a little harvest to them: but it interfered 

 greatly with our haymaking. Women could gain each 

 about two shillings a day, clear of all expenses, by 

 gathering it ; but they complained that it was a very 

 hard and laborious occupation, the plant being drawn 

 up by the roots, which are strongly interwoven in the 

 soil. The dyer gave them eight-pence for a hundred 

 weight ; but I fear the amount was greatly enhanced 

 by the dishonest practice of watering the load, for the 

 specious purpose of keeping it green ; and the old wood- 

 waxers tell me, that, without the increase of weight 

 which the water gave the article, they should have had 

 but little reward for their labor. Greediness here, how- 

 ever, as in most other cases, ruined the trade, the plant 

 becoming so injured and stinted by repeated pullings, 

 as to be in these parts no longer an object worth seeking 

 for ; and our farmers rather discountenance the custom, 

 as the "green-weed" preserves and shelters at its roots 

 a considerable quantity of coarse herbage, which in the 

 winter and spring months is of great importance to the 

 young cattle browsing in the pastures. The use of this 

 dyer's broom is to prepare woollen cloths for the recep- 

 tion of another color. It communicates to the article a 

 dull yellow, which will then, by being dipped in another 

 liquor or composition, according to the shade required, 

 receive a green hue. Vegetable filaments, cotton, flax, 

 &c., are very differently formed from those threads 

 afforded by animals, as silk and wool, and are differently 

 disposed to receive colors. The dye that will give a 

 fine color to the one, is perhaps rejected by the other ; 

 and this plant is rarely or never used by the dyer for 

 cotton articles. That certain natural productions re- 

 ceive and retain, and others reject or soon part with 

 artificial colorings, are in some cases in consequence of 

 the nature of the substance, and in others by reason of 

 the conformation of the fibre ; but any examination of 

 this kind would only occasion a tedious discussion and 

 remain very obscure at last. We find certain effects 

 produced and reason upon them, but so small are the 

 parts operated upon, minute the agents, and equivocal 



