PRODUCE OF CHOPS, ETC. 431 



and set up to dry. When ready for carting to market, the 

 sheaves are made up into bundles of ^ cwt. each, sixty of 

 which constitute the market "load." 



Although an indigenous plant, and very hardy in its 

 nature, it is very liable when cultivated to be injured by 

 "mildew/' which greatly reduces its yield, and conse- 

 quently the remunerative return to the grower. Under 

 ordinary circumstances the produce may be taken at from 

 30 to 40 cwts. to the acre. According to Girardin and 

 Dubreuil the net profit of the crop on the Continent, 

 where it is regularly grown, averages from 7 to 8 per 

 acre. The colouring principle of the plant, upon which 

 its value depends, has been termed luteoline by Chevreul, 

 who first discovered it, -and whose investigations of its 

 peculiar properties have given it a character much valued 

 by dyers that of being permanent in its colour, and not 

 changing to a brownish tint. 1 It is equally applicable to 

 vegetable or animal tissues cottons as well as silks and 

 wools. 



1 Chevreul, Chimie appliquee d la teinture, 30 eme legon. 



