wo AD. 



the leaves has been performed, when the plants Ihould be 

 again immediately well weeded ; and after each cropping 

 the fame operation be had recourfe to ; the extent of crop 

 cleared in the day being, in mod cafes, weeded before 

 right. 



With the late-fown crops, after the fecond weeding in 

 OAober, nothing further will be requifite till the fpring, 

 about the middle of April, when the work (hould be again 

 well executed, the mould being completely ftirred about the 

 roots of the plants, that they may derive the fuUeft benefit 

 from the operation. This will be fufficient to keep them 

 clean till the taking of the firft crop ; after which they muft 

 be again weeded, and the fame operation be had recourfe to 

 after each cropping of the leaves, as in the above cafe. 



In refpeft to the bufinefs of gathering the crops with the 

 fpring-fown ones, the leaves will generally be ready to be 

 gathered towards the latter end of June, or beginning of 

 July, according to the nature of the foil, feafon, and cli- 

 mate ; but for thofe put in at a later period in the fummer, 

 they are often fit to be gathered earlier. This bufinefs 

 fhould, however, conftantly be executed as foon as the 

 leaves are fully grown, while they retain their perfeft green 

 colour, and are highly fucculent ; as when they are let re- 

 main till they begin to turn pale, much of their goodnefs is 

 faid to be expended, and they become lefs in quantity, and 

 of an inferior quahty for the purpofes of the dyer. In fa- 

 vourable feafons, where the foils are rich, the plants will 

 often rife to the height of eight or ten inches ; but in other 

 circumftances they feldom attain more than four or five : 

 and where the lands are well managed in the culture of the 

 plants, they will often afford two or three gatherings, but 

 the befi; cultivators feldom take more than two, which are 

 fometimes mixed together in the manufafturing of them. It 

 is neceflary that the after-croppings, when they are taken, 

 are conftantly kept feparate from the others, as they would 

 injure the whole if blended together, and confiderably di- 

 minifti the value of the produce. It is faid that the beft 

 method, where a third cropping is either wholly or partially 

 made, is to keep it feparate, forming it into an inferior kind 

 of woad. 



Upon an acre of land, when well managed, in favourable 

 feafons, the produce is moftly from about a ton to a ton and 

 a half. The price varies confiderably ; but for woad of the 

 prime quality, it is often from twenty-five to thirty pounds 

 the ton, and for that of an inferior quality fix or feven, and 

 fometimes much more. 



Seeding-Crops. — With fuch parts of the crops as are re- 

 ferved for feed, it is a praftice with fome to crop the leaves 

 two or three times the firft year, and then leave the plants 

 to run up to feed in the following one ; but it is a better 

 praftice to only remove the fide-leaves, as in this way the 

 plants are lefs weakened, and the produce of the feed much 

 increafed. The plants are likewife fometimes fed down by 

 Iheep during the winter feafon ; but this, from its tendency 

 to weaken them, is equally improper and prejudicial. 



Preparation of for the Dyer The woad, after it has been 



gathered, undergoes feveral procefles to prepare it for the 

 dyer ; but in the improved method it is conveyed in one- 

 horfe carts, fo contrived as to be lifted from the axis, and, 

 by folding doors in the bottoms, to difcharge their con- 

 tents upon the floor above the mill, on being hoifted up to 

 their proper fituation : round this floor holes are formed for 

 putting the plants down through, in order that they may 

 drop under the grinding-wheels. The mills for this pur- 

 pofe have feveral wheels for grinding the plants, which have 

 lefs diameters on one fide than the other, and are about 

 three feet in width, being conftrufted with iron bars for 



crufhing the woad. They are wrought by horfes, or any 

 other power, as may be the moft convenient. The mate- 

 rials are preferved under the grinding-wheels by proper con- 

 trivances, which, as foon as they are fufficiently reduced, 

 force it out of the tracks upon the ttone floors on the fides ; 

 thus making way for new parcels without the mill being 

 flopped. The bruifed woad is then thrown into rooms on 

 the fides of the mill, deftined for its reception, by means of 

 fhovels. In thefe it remain* till the juice is fo much drained 

 off as to leave it in a proper condition for being formed into 

 balls ; which is done by labourers, with apparatus for the 

 purpofe, and then laid upon trays to be conveyed to the dry- 

 ing ranges, in which they are placed upon grating-fhelves 

 that Aide on fledges in the drying-houfes. Thefe are placed 

 on the fides of galleries, for the convenience of being eafily 

 depofited upon them and removed again. It is kept ia 

 thefe till it is fufficiently dried to be laid up in other rooms, 

 until the whole of the crop has undergone the fame opera- 

 tions, and the workmen are ready to manufafture it. 



It is ftated in the Correded Lincolnfliire Report on Agri- 

 culture, that to prepare it for ufe in the art of dyeing, it is 

 neceflary for it to take on a proper ftate of fermentation, 

 which is accompliflied in the courfe of feven or eight 

 weeks, and, in the technical language of the art, is termed 

 couching. It is effefted by regrinding the balls, in the fame 

 mill as before, to a fine powder, and then fpreading it 

 upon the floors of the rooms in which the balls were formed, 

 to the thicknefs of about three feet ; where it is then moif- 

 tened with water, fo as to keep it in a proper flow ftate of 

 fermentation ; and fo managed by turning that it may per- 

 vade the whole in an equal manner. In this bufinefs, the di- 

 reftion of an experienced workman is neceflary. In the 

 turning, it is of much importance that the parts of the ma- 

 terials be perfeftly divided, which can only be effefted by a 

 nice management of the fliovel : and it is added that much 

 advantage has been found in the goodnefs of the woad, from 

 the drying and ftoring of it being performed in a careful man- 

 ner, when this attention is negledled, the woad will not, 

 on being broken between the finger and thumb, draw out 

 into fine hair-hke filaments, or, in the technical language of 

 the manufafturer, beaver well ; as the ufe of this fubftance 

 in the blue vat of the dyer, is not merely to afford the co- 

 lour of the plant, but, by bringing on a very gentle fer- 

 mentation, excite the indigo in the fame vat to yield its co- 

 louring principle more perfedlly. This is even neceflary for 

 its own colouring-matter being fully imparted. The fub-' 

 ttance ihould, therefore, be fo prepared in the different opera- 

 tions as to produce this effeft in the moft certain and perfeft' 

 manner. When the heat in the procefs of couching has 

 gone too far, the fubftance will be what is termedyi.vy ; and 

 when it has not proceeded to a fufficient degree, it will be 

 what is called heavy. If the material be good, it does not 

 foil the fingers on being rubbed between them ; but fuch as 

 is heavy does. In the conclufion of the procefs, the cool- 

 ing is effefted in fo gradual a manner, as to render it not | 

 fit for taking on the fame procefs ; and of courfe proper for 

 being preferved in caflcs, or in any other way. It is then 

 ready for ufe. 



The preparation of woad for dyeing, as praftifed in 

 France, is minutely defcribed by Aftruc, in his Memoirs 

 for a Natural Hiftory of Languedoc. The plant puts 

 forth at firft five or fix upright leaves, about a foot long, 

 and fix inches broad : when thefe hang downwards, and 

 turn yellow, they are fit for gathering : five crops are ga- 

 thered in one year. The leaves are carried direftjy to a 

 mill, much refembhng the oil or tan-mills, and ground into a 

 fmooth pafte. If this procefs was deferred for fome time, 



they 



