174 
fermentation more or less time, according to the season and 
the degree of heat it is suffered to attain, whether at an ear¬ 
ly period or according to the opinion of those who attend 
the process ; but the best Woad is produced from a heat 
temperately brought forward in the couch until at maturity? 
and turned (on every occasion necessary) which a proper 
degree of attention will soon discover. 
These balls when dry are very hard and compact, and re¬ 
quire to be broken to pieces with a mallet and put into a 
a heap and watered to a due degree only sufficient to pro¬ 
mote fermentation but not by too much moisture which 
would retard it; and here is a crisis necessary to be attend¬ 
ed. When the couch has attained its due point it is open¬ 
ed, spread and turned until regularly cooled, and then it is 
considered in condition for sale; but the immediate use of 
Woad new from the couch is not advised by dyers who are 
experienced, for new Woad is not so regular in its fermen¬ 
tation in the blue vat. 
This is the common process. Woad oftentimes is spoiled 
herein by people who know nothing of the principles of its 
oye, following their accustomed process of preparing it; 
and hence the difference in its quality is as often seen as it 
is in the real richness or poverty of the leaves from the 
quality of the land. The process for preparing Woad and 
which I have followed being, in my estimation, beyond com¬ 
parison best, is as follows : 
Gather the leaves, put them to dry, and turn them so as 
not to let them heat and so be reduced to a paste ; which in 
fine weather children can do; in wet weather my method 
was to convey them to my stove and when I had got a quan¬ 
tity sufficiently dry I proceeded to the couch and there put 
them in a large heap ; where if not too dry they would be¬ 
gin to ferment soon and heat, if too wet they would rot, but 
not properly ferment nor readily become in a condition for 
the dyer. These leaves not having been ground nor placed 
in balls on the hurdles their fermenting quality was more 
