PREPARATION OF WOAD AT PARSON DROVE. 
151 
yielding such a small percentage of pigment, many attempts were 
made on the Continent to obtain the bluecolour profitably from Woad, 
and the French offered a very large reward to anyone who should 
discover an economical process, but the quantity obtained never 
compensated for the cost of production in the face of the decline 
in the price of indigo. 
In Germany the blue colour was obtained direct from the leaves 
by placing them in tubs nearly Idled with water, keeping the leaves 
down with wooden blocks ; this set up a fermentation, and after a 
time the liquid was drawn away from the bottom of the tubs, the 
leaves were well washed and the two liquids mixed, lime water 
was then added and the whole constantly shaken ; the dye was 
deposited as an insoluble paste, which was thoroughly washed and 
cut into cakes. A Woad vat at the present day consists of Woad, 
bran, slaked lime, madder, and indigo. The Woad is put. into the 
vat with water at a temperature of 150° Fahr ; after some hours, 
when the Woad has become soft, the bran, madder, indigo, and 
half the lime are added; the fermentation soon commences, the 
liquid becomes green and a blue scum forms on the surface, fresh 
slaked lime being carefully added as the ferment goes on ; in three 
days the vat is ready for dyeing. This is a very old process. The 
Woad acts as a fermenting agent and mordant, bran also aiding 
the ferment. The madder is probably useless, being a survival of 
early days, and the lime makes the indigo soluble by converting it 
into indigo white. A hoop apparatus in the vat prevents the cloth 
from coming into contact with the mass at the bottom. This vat is 
largely used for dyeing woaded blacks, and was also used for 
dyeing mourning blacks, hence the term “ widows’ weeds ” or 
woads, the plural being used in much the same way as the plural 
“ blacks ” used to be. 
The artificial production of indigo in the chemical laboratory by 
Bayer is one of the latest triumphs in organic chemistry, and, as 
is the case with alizarine and madder, may ultimately drive the 
natural product out of the market. The discovery of the passage 
to India by the Cape was really the death blow of Woad 
cultivation in Europe, although previous to that discovery indigo 
was largely introduced into Europe by way of Alexandria. In 
spite of the most stringent prohibitions in Germany, France, and 
England in the sixteenth century to prevent the introduction of 
