514 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



in colouring oils, unguents, and lip-salves. It is 

 also fraudulently" used, to give a coloui- to adul- 

 terated wines. Wax tinged with it imparts a 

 flesh-coloured stain when applied to warm marble, 

 which by an infusion in alcohol is stained of a 

 deep red colour. 



Its consumption is considerable in this country, 

 in comparison with the apparently trifling uses 

 to which it is applied; 55,.374 lbs. were retained 

 for home consumption in 1830. The import 

 duty is 2^. per cwt.; its price being about £1 

 10s. per cwt. 



Weld, or Dyer's Weed (reseda luteola). 

 Natural family resedacece; dodecandria, mono- 

 gt/nia, of Linnaeus. This plant is well known 

 throughout Europe. It is cultivated near Paris 

 and other parts of France; it is likewise indi- 

 genous to England, and is found growing spon- 

 taneously in many parts of the country on 

 uncultivated wastes. It thrives in aU our 

 abandoned stone quarries, upon the rejected 

 mbbish of the lime-kiln, and waste places of the 

 roads, apparently a perfectly indigenous plant. 

 Unmindful of frost or of draught, it preserves 

 a degree of verdure when nearly all other vege- 

 tation is seared up by these extremes in exposed 

 situations. The wild weld does not, however, 

 abound with as much colouring matter as that 

 which is cultivated, although it grows larger and 

 higher. This plant is therefore cultivated for 

 its colouring produce in several of our counties, 

 especially in Kent, Herefordshire, and about 

 Doncaster in Yorkshire. It is not an object of 

 careful husbandry, as it will grow on the worst 

 soils, without the aid of manure. 



Mr Swayne observes that it is one of the first 

 plants which grow on the rubbish thrown out 

 of coal pits. The root and bottom leaves are 

 formed from the fallen seeds before winter; and 

 thus it happens in this, as in many other cases, 

 that the wild plant is biennial, whilst the culti- 

 vated plant, growing from seeds sown in the 

 spring, is annual. Linnaeus remarked that the 

 nodding spike of flowers foUows the course of 

 the sun, even when the sky is obscured; this is 

 the case with this plant, as its spike will be found 

 in the morning pointing east, at noon south, and 

 westward in the evening. 



Weld is a biennial plant. Its root consists of 

 only a few ligneous fibres. Radical leaves spring 

 forth from this of about four inches long and 

 half an inch wide, spreading circularly near the 

 ground; they are soft to the touch, and of a, 

 lively green colour. In good soils the stem 

 which springs up from amidst these leaves is 

 often branchy and furnished with naiTOw leaves 

 like the radical ones, but smaller in proportion 

 as they approach the flowers. It attains to the 

 height of about three feet before blooming. The 

 stems are cylindrical, hollow, and furrowed, 

 terminating in long spikes of yellowish green 



flowers, like those of mignonette; these expand 

 in the months of June or July, and are succeeded 

 by globular fruits of the same colour, terminat- 

 ing in three points, and enclosing small brown 

 spherical seeds, which come to maturity in Sep- 

 tember. 



The more slender the stalk the more it is 

 valued. This plant is commonly sowed with 

 or immediately after barley or oats, no other 

 additional care being required but the application 

 of a bush harrow to cover in the seeds. It 

 makes so little progress during the first year, 

 that the reaping of the grain does it little or no 

 injury. In the ensuing summer it is fit to be 

 pulled. The more careful cultivator, however, 

 devotes a piece of ground solely to its propaga- 

 tion. The seed is then sown in the month of 

 August, in about the proportion of one gallon 

 per acre; at the end of two months it is hoed 

 and thinned, the plants being left about half a 

 foot apart. The hoeing is repeated twice more, 

 and at the end of June in the ensuing year, the 

 flowers appear in fuU bloom and vigour; in a 

 short time the seeds form, and the stalks then 

 acquire a yellow tinge. This is the most favour- 

 able period for gathering; the performance of 

 which, previous to these indications, or some 

 time after they are exhibited, would alike be 

 detrimental to the colour of the dye. At the 

 proper time for pulling the plant the seed is not 

 sufficiently mature for propagation, some plants 

 are therefore reserved for this purpose, and left 

 in the ground until September. The plants, 

 after being gathered, are carefully dried, and 

 then tied up in bundles of from thirty to fifty 

 pounds, and sold to those who prepare the colour 

 from them, or to the dyers who sometimes use 

 them without preparation. 



It is generally supposed by the cultivators, 

 that the colouring matter is contained in the 

 whole plant, but some assert that the valuable 

 part resides in the seeds alone, and they there- 

 fore consider it a very injudicious practice to 

 reserve the whole plant for sale, as the seeds are 

 much wasted, not only by being shaken while 

 the stalks are formed into bundles, but subse- 

 quently in the transport of these from one place 

 to another. Nor is this the only disadvantage; 

 the carriage of so bulky an article very much 

 enhances its cost, while if the seeds alone were 

 an article of commerce, their transport from one 

 place to another would be comparatively trifling. 

 The plants occupying a space of six cubic feet, 

 would not yield more than half a peck of seeds. 

 This simple fact might be ascertained without 

 much difficulty, and if the seeds were found to 

 be really t)ie only useful part, surely the dyer 

 would be loth to encumber himself with the 

 whole plant. It is, however, still put into the 

 dyer's pot, occupying one Irundred times more 

 space than the quercitron bark, containing an 



