922 



PllACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Paut III. 



5980. 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 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. 

 The 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, weeded, or hoed, but left to itself till 

 the plants are in full blossom. 



5981. 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 steins, and the 

 plants are just beginning to turn of a light or yellowish 

 colour ; as in the beginning or middle of July in the second 

 year. The plants are usually from one foot 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 tlie reception of a crop 

 of wheat or turnips ; in this case, a small part must be left solely for the purpose of 

 seed. 



5982. In the execution of the toork, the plants are drawn up by the roots in small handfuls ; and, after 

 each handful had been tied up with one of the stalks, they are set up in fours in an erect position, and 

 left to dry. Sometimes, however, they 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, each containing si.\ty handfuls, and weighing fifty-six pounds Sixty of these 

 bundles constitute a load, and, in places where this kind of crop is much grown, are tied up by a string 

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



5983. The produce of weld depends much on the nature of the season ; but from half 

 a load to a load and a half per acre is the quantity most commonly afforded. It is usually 

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

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

 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. 



5984. The use of weld in dyeing is for giving a yellow colour to cotton, woollen, mohair, 

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

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



5985. To save seed, select a few of the largest and healthiest plants, and leave them to 

 ripen. The seed is easily separated. 



5986. 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. Bastard Saffron. Carthamus tinctorius L. ; Syngenesia Polygamia 

 jEqndlis L., and Cynaroccphalcs J. Carthame, Fr. ; Wilder Snfran, Ger. (fg. 140. 

 P 174.) 



5987. 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 singly 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 nearly an inch 

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

 for the use of the dyer. 



5988. It grows naturally in Egypt and some of the warm parts of Asia ; but, being an 

 annual, our summers admit of its going 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 perfec- 

 tion in England. 



5989. It is cultivated in great plenty in Germany, and was formerly grown in England. In Houghton's 

 Collection!!, it is related by a gentleman, in 1685, that twenty- five acres in the Vale of Evesham, in Glouces- 

 tershire, were sown with this seed ; the soil a mixed sand of about fifteen shillingsan acre in 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 bv 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 his expectation. He gained above thirty shillings an acre 

 clear profit, except 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 



