( 120 } 
When the roots are taken up, they are suspended 
under cover, for ten or twelve days, to dry. During 
this time, much of the water of vegetation is evapo- 
rated ; the plant becomes soft, and is then subjected 
to the heat of an oven, from which bread has been 
taken. After a second baking it comes out dry and 
brittle; and, to disengage from it the earth, the 
small fibres and the outer skin of the root, it is light- 
ly threshed with a flail, after which it is fit for grind- 
ing. 
Of Woad. 
This plant, till #756, was much employed, and fur- 
nished the finest blue color, and, in the opinion of 
some dyers, is even now very profitably united with 
indigo; giving to the color imparted by it, more in. 
tensity as well as duration. The maturity of the leaves 
(the only useful part of the plant) is announced by 
their drooping and by the yellow color which they 
take. At this signal they must be stripped from 
their stems, housed, and left in mass till, freed from 
the water of vegetation, they begin to macerate by 
their own weight. ‘They are then to be washed and 
reduced to a paste; after whicha fermentation takes 
place, and the fecula shows itself and forms a black 
crust, which is not to be broken, because necessary 
to prevent evaporation. When the fermentation has 
subsided, (which may be known by the diminished 
stench) the mass is pounded and formed into balls for 
use. The soil and preparation, indicated in the last 
article for madder, are most proper for woad. 
Of Saffron. 
This plant is cultivated only for the stigmata of 
