ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. XXXV. 



from near base of the plant in June, one or two more gather- 

 ings may be made at intervals of a month or six weeks. 

 The freshly gathered leaves are at once ground to a pulp 

 in roller mills (worked by horses) very similar to a clay 

 mill, in a circular thatched shed, the rollers are slightly 

 conical hollow wooden drums, fitted with 25 or 30 longi- 

 tudinal iron bars to serve as the crushing edges, the pulp is 

 removed and allowed to drain; when sufficiently dry, it is 

 worked up into balls of about 4 inches to 6 inches diameter, 

 by hand on a tray ('balling horse '). The hands of the women 

 who worked the woad into balls were slightly stained blue. 

 The balls are placed on gratings arranged in tiers in sheds 

 ('ranges,') with open sides so as to allow free circulation 

 of air. When the whole of the crop has been treated in 

 this way the balls are ground to a coarse powder in the 

 roller mill, which is spread over the floor of the ' couching 

 house' to a depth of two or three feet, and worked up into 

 a paste by frequently sprinkling with water and turning 

 over with spades. This goes on for several weeks. During 

 this process fermentation is set up ; at first there is a con- 

 siderable rise in temperature, the mass steams and an 

 offensive smell is given off. The operation requires much 

 care and some skill ; if carried out too slowly the product 

 is ' heavy ' or sodden, and if too quickly ' foxy.' When the 

 fermentation is over and the pasty mass has cooled down 

 it is packed in casks for market. Nine parts of the leaves 

 yield about 1 part of prepared woad and this may contain 

 2°/°of indigotin, but some samples contain none at all. A 

 few years ago it fetched £25 a ton, it is now worth only £9. 



It is not now used for the sake of the dye, but is employed 

 to start fermentation in the indigo vat (or woad vat) used 

 by the Yorkshire woollen dyer, and its use will, now that 

 artificial indigo is coming into use, soon be given up 

 altogether. Imitation woad is made from rhubarb, cabbage 



