422 THE WO AD AND WELD CROPS. 



the same as that of the first ; the same care is re- 

 quired to keep the land well stirred and cleaned, and 

 the same attention in keeping the produce free from the 

 leaves of other plants and from any extraneous matter. 

 In no case, however, is the produce of the second year 

 equal in quality to that of the first. Where the crop is 

 regularly grown every year the produce of the first and 

 the second year's plants is frequently mixed and manu- 

 factured together, or they are kept separate, and sold 

 according to their respective qualities. A portion of the 

 crop of the last year is usually set apart for seed; the 

 plants are then left untouched, or the leaves merely taken 

 from the lower part of the stems. A flower-stem is 

 thrown up in the spring, and large bunches of darkish 

 yellow flowers appear; and about July the seed -pods 

 are matured, when they are harvested precisely in the 

 same manner as that described for turnip seed (vol. i. 

 p. 311), the seed being generally thrashed out by the 

 flail on the field. 



The cultivation of woad is kept as much as possible 

 in the hands of a few growers, whose object appears 

 to be to restrict the competition, and thus keep up the 

 market price for the article they manufacture. The 

 quantity of seed grown, therefore, though the yield is 

 very abundant, is confined to their own requirements, 

 and great difficulty always exists in procuring any for 

 use. One writer on the subject tells us that so closely was 

 the seed guarded from all who would be purchasers, that 

 very few years ago none could be obtained, even at the 

 most exorbitant offers. It is stated that a labouring man 

 on one occasion obtained permission of a woad-grower to 

 glean the straw and stalks from a field of 12 acres, where 

 woad seed had just been grown and harvested : he cleared 

 off the rubbish, as he said, " for firing," and out of it 

 managed to get about 2 Ibs. of seed, which he sent up to a 



