THE WOAD AND WELD CROPS. 



AMONG the crops cultivated for special uses are the 

 plants used for dyeing. These are generally natives of 

 warmer climates than our own; and therefore, with the 

 exception of one or two, have never entered into cultiva- 

 tion here, and those that have formerly been grown here, 

 are now only to be met with in cultivation to a very 

 limited extent. The two which we have to describe in 

 this section of our subject are WOAD and WELD the one 

 furnishing a blue and the other a yellow dye material, 

 much valued in certain branches of textile manufacture. 

 They are both hardy plants, indigenous to this country, 

 and therefore, so far as their natural habits are con- 

 cerned, perfectly suitable for cultivation. 



VVoad, which we will take first, has been long known 

 and cultivated for the colouring matter it yields Although 

 we have no distinct mention made of it by the Roman 

 agricultural writers, still we find it among the plants 

 known to the Greeks, and figured by Dioscorides in the 

 MSS. of the Vienna Museum. In this country its early 

 history is also somewhat obscure. It is supposed, how- 

 ever, to have been the plant with which the ancient 

 Britons were accustomed to stain their bodies. 1 It was 

 grown far more generally in this country in the earlier 

 than in the later periods of our history. It is mentioned 

 by more than one of our earlier authors, and indeed it is 



" Omnes se Britauni luteo inficiur.t, quod et cceruleum efficit colorem." 

 Csesar, DC Bello Gallico, v. 14. This is confirmed by Pliny, who says (lib. xxii. 

 c. ]) that it was used for colouring the bodies of the women and girls during 

 certain religious ceremonies. 



