284 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



[April 1, 



CULTURE OF PASTEL OR WOAD. 



John Lowell, Esq. 



Brinley Place {near Boston.) 



Dear Sir — I herewith send you a copy of the 

 letter required. 



As 1 know you take great interest in our do- 

 mestic improvements, I send you a paper con- 

 taining a letter from De Caritaf, to tlie Presi- 

 dent of the N. York Society for the Encourage- 

 ment of Manufactuies, presuming you may not 

 have seen it. I do this, because the fact which 

 1 staled in my letter to you that wood was indis- 

 pensabli/ necessary for making a pennanciU blue 

 die, is confirmed by an experienced dier from 

 Svvitzerhind. 



The indigenous substitute which he says he 

 has discovered in this country, cannot be so eas- 

 ily or abundantly raised as the woadj for milk- 

 weed requires a peculiar soil. 



Perhaps it may be well to |)ut an extract of 

 that communication in your agricultural ]>ubli- 

 cation, by way ot a note, confirmntory of the 

 statement contained in my letter as to the im- 

 portance of woad to ferment the indigo vat. — 

 It is so difficult to induce our agriculturists and 

 mechanics to make experiments, that nothing 

 should be omitted which may lend to convince 

 them of the truth of whatever may be of private 

 or public benefit. 



It is a lamentable and notorious fact, that a 

 too general belief prevails, that nothing u.seful 

 can be learned from hooks, in relation to agri- 

 culture or manul'actures. This prejudice being 

 once removed, we shall soon equal those nations 

 who now so much excel us. 



England has m ide most rapid improvcraenls 

 in agriculture since the establishment of the nu- 

 merous agricultural societies, which are now 

 scattered over that kingdom. We must do the 



never raise Indian corn. Wheat is an arlirle of 

 export even from the Biiltic and ijlack sph, and 

 still we cannot shake oiT this fatal predilection 

 for corn. 

 1 have about two bushels of woad seed which 



of his remarks now. Without Pastel or Woad 

 or a substitule perfecllj analojfous, according 

 to bun, there is no possibility of dying in deep 

 unchangeable blue, (let Ihe materials l>e what 

 thsv will,) of a superior quality. As this |)lant 



I shall be glad to give to any person who may is not indigenous to Ihe United States, and has 



wish to make an experiment. Should applica 

 tion be made to your society for seed, please to 

 require it of me. 



With great respect. 



Your obedient servant 



H. A. S. Dearborn. 



Pasiel or Woad important to our Farmers as a pro- 

 duct, and to our Manvfocturers as a substitute 

 for Indigo. 



The public are indebted to General H. A. S. 

 Dearborn, of Roxbury, not only for Ihe transla- 

 tion of an admirable treatise of C. P. De Las- 

 teyrie, on the culture, preparation, history, and 

 analysis of Woad, but amidst his numerous pub- 

 lic avocations, for his spirited and judicious ex- 

 periments upon its culture, and the process of 

 obtaining a pigment from it. 



The Trustees of the .Massachusetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture, in submitting his let- 

 ter to the public, tender him their respectful 

 acknowledo^emen's for his interesting communi- 

 cation. They assure the public that Ihev have 

 a Sjiecimci) of the pigment obtained by General 

 Dearborn, very nearly resembling in colour and 

 all its sensible properties, the most perfect In- 

 digo. General Dearborn, in Ihe true spirit of 

 a patriotic citizen, also authorizes them to as- 

 sure the public, that he has two bushels of Woad 

 seed reaily to be given to any person who may 

 be disj>osed to cultivate it. The work translat- 

 ed by General Dearborn may be had gratis by 

 the Agricullural Societies throughout ihis state, 

 '' by applying to the Corresponding Secreta- 



sarae. It is up hill work ; but I trust the spirit j ry of the Massachusetts .Agricultural Society ; 



of our best citizens will clear the way and pur- 1 General Dearboin having piesenled certain 



sue the object with patriotic zeal. 

 Our farmers have not advanced in any degree 



in proportion, either to their natural intelligence 

 or the progress of the arts in other countries. — 

 They plant Indian corn to their ruin ; their or- 

 chards are as neglected as their woodlands ; and 

 after you get at a distance from considerable 

 towns, horticulture is scarcely known. New 

 England can furnish bread stuiT for the whole of 

 ihe United States, and is still dependent on the 

 southern states for flour. 



The states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia do not yield, on an average, more than 

 eight bushels of wheat to the acre ; and no part 

 of New England yields much less than twenty, 

 and from that to forty. 



I rode over a part of the District of Maine, 

 New-Hampshire, Vermont, and this State, in 

 1816, and 1 presume then§ was twice as much 

 wheat raised as in any other year. Notwith- 

 etanding the season, the crops were never bet- 

 ter, while the corn was generally destroyed. — 

 Our farmers never will grow ricli until they 

 abandon planting Indian corn ; it is ruinous to 

 their prosperity. Wheat, rye, and barley are 

 raised with more ease, are more certain, and 

 nearly twice as valuable. 



Our ancestors found the natives living on hi- 

 dian corn, and we do the same. I cannot dis- 

 <;over any other reason why such a practice 

 should picvail. The northern nations of Europe 



been in Europe considereil t)y the learned among 

 many of a sim:|;ir nature, us deserving the pref- 

 erence, the treatise concerning it, and espe- 

 ciallv the .success of the experiments made here, 

 for cultivating the same, must of course be re- 

 garded as most precious and valuable acquisi- 

 tions.^ " Mr. Treytorrens then goes on to speiik 

 of a substitute for Pastel, but which he does not 

 pretend to say is better, and which he calls Milk- 

 weed, or silk-grass. What this plant is, or what 

 part of it is used, does not appear. It will not, 

 we are persuaded, supersede the valuable plant 

 described in the following letter. 



Brinlcy-Place, [near Boston). 

 Sir — As a citizen of Massachusetts, I feel great 

 solicitude in every thing which may ceniribute 

 to render the products other soil ofimpditance 

 to the nation and render the labours of liio Ag- 

 riculturist proiitable. 



As the Society of Ihis Commoniveaith for the 

 encouragement of those objects, have recom- 

 mended experiments and invited communications 

 on all subjects interesting to the farmer, 1 here- 

 with transmit a number of copies of a work, 

 which I have tran.»lated from the French, on Ihe 

 culture of Woad or Pastel, and the use o'f its blue 

 pigment in dying. 



Desirous of testing the correctness of the ex- 

 periments which are therein detailed, of the 

 best methods of cultivating Pastel, and extract- 

 ino' the indigo Irom the matured leaves of the 

 plant, I sowed a piece of ground early in May, 

 in drills, three feet apart, and at the (irst weed- 

 ing thinned out the plants, so as to leave them 

 six inches apart. . 



On the 1.5th of .August, I cut a part of the 

 leaves, which covered ^'- part of an acre, and 

 pursued the process contained in the Informa- 

 tion upon the Art of e.rtracttng Indigo from the 

 leaves of Pastel, published by order ot His Ex- 

 cellency Montalivet, count of the empire and 

 Minister of the interiour; contained in the trea- 

 tises transmitted. The experiment sfncceeded 

 to admiration, and I herewith send you a sam- 

 [de of the Indigo obtained. 



The fermentation was perfect at the expira- 

 ration of 48 hours. The liquor being drawn olT 

 have made him (Mr Treytorrens) acquainted, ! from the vat'-', one bucket of lime water, prepar- 

 he had knowledge of a work just published in [ ed agreeably to the directions contained in the 

 iioslon, and sent by the translator, Mr H. A. S. treatise, was added to two of the liquor, and 

 Dearborn, to the former gentleman. W'hen he! then agitated with a small wooden r.ike, for fif- 

 ran it over and examined it, ho came again to teen minutes, when a most copious white froth 

 me, wishing I should state to you his observa- 1 arose to the surface, which soon assumed a 



copic-s tor this end. 



Beibre we insert General Dearborn's letter, 

 we would observe that a French gentleman of 

 science. Monsieur De Caritat, has recently, in 

 a letter to the New-York society ibr the en- 

 couragement of manufactures, thus noticed and 

 conlirmed the opinions of General Dearborn. — 

 Speaking of a Mr. Treytorrens, a dier of Swit- 

 zerland, he says : 



"Through the kindness and zeal of Dr. Mit- 

 chell and Mr Janies Robertson, with whom 1 



lions and discoveries, either relative to the^ub 

 ject, or some other branches of his profession, 

 lending to shew his devotedness to his adopted 

 country, and particularly its manufactures. 



"The following nre nearly his words : — Pas- 

 tel or Woad, on which n treatise has just been 

 published in Boston, is well known and familiar 

 to Mr Treytorrens, not as having cultivated 

 it himself, which however he often saw and ob- 

 served in the soil, nor manufactured, though ac- 

 quainted with the process ; but as having em- 

 ployed its product (or dying. Its quality, and 

 its indispensable use with indigo to obtain a deep 

 rich and superfine blue color will be the sole end 



bright blue colour. This froth ivas carefully 

 skimmed oft" and put into earthen bowls to dry 

 and gave me a quantity of "^cwrei?," as mention- 

 ed at page 133 ; a quart of which 1 send you. 



The green flocculi were deposited in two 

 hours. The superincumbent yellow liquor be- 

 ing drawn oiT, an ounce of sulphuric acid, dilut- 

 ed with water, to every bucket of the liquor, 

 was poured into the green precipitate, which 

 instantly changed it to a most beautiful cerulean 

 blue : cold water was then poured into this ad- 

 mixture and violently agitated for ten minutes. 



Twelve hours after, the liquor was drawn off 

 and the blue deposition put into cloth filters to 



