COST OF CULTIVATION. 427 



properly prepared ; water requires to be added, and the 

 couch to be less frequently moved until the temperature 

 has risen to its proper elevation again. If the fermen- 

 tation be too vigorous, and the heat of the mass too 

 great, it may be checked by the addition of fresh woad, 

 and by moving the couch without giving it any more 

 water until the temperature falls to the desired level. 

 When too much heated the woad becomes " foxey," and 

 can never be restored to its former condition, its value 

 being diminished proportionately to the injury it has sus- 

 tained. When the fermentative process has been carried 

 far enough, and the desired condition produced, no more 

 water is added, and the couch is kept moved until the 

 temperature has fallen sufficiently low to allow of its 

 being "packed" in the casks, in which it is sent into the 

 markets. 



The cost of labour in the cultivation and subsequent 

 preparation of the crop is very great ; the ordinary labour, 

 that of hoeing and weeding, is either paid for by the 

 "day" or by the "piece;" while the skilled labour, that 

 of cropping and preparing, is usually paid for according to 

 the amount of produce manufactured and sent to market, 

 the relative prices paid for the different parts of the pro- 

 cess varying according to the state of the markets. The 

 produce, and also the money returns, are subject to great 

 variations; about 2 tons of manufactured woad per acre 

 maybe taken as a fair average yield; and this, at the 

 price it has for some years past been sold for in the markets, 

 leaves but a small return for the expenditure incurred in 

 rent, labour, use of plant, &c., in its manufacture cer- 

 tainly not enough to induce any healthy competition with 

 the present growers, as even a small annual addition to 

 the supply sent into the markets, would necessarily tend 

 to lower the prices, and thus render it still less remunera- 

 tive than at present. 



