green; for when they begin to look pale, great part of their goodness is 
over; for the quantity will be less, and the quality greatly diminished. 
If the land is good, and the crop well husbanded, it will produce three 
or four gatherings, but the two first are the best; these are commonly 
mixed together in the manufacturing of it, but the after-crops are always 
kept separate; for if these are mixed with the other, the whole will be of 
little value. The two first crops will sell from, twenty-five to thirty pounds 
a ton; but the latter will not bring more than seven or eight pounds, and 
sometimes not so much. An acre of land will produce a ton of Wk>ad, and 
in good seasons near a ton and a half. 
When the planters intend to save the seeds, they cut three crops of the 
leaves, and then let the plants stand till the next year for seed; but if only 
one crop is cut, and that only of the outer leaves, letting all the middle leaves 
stand to nourish the stalks, the plants will grow stronger, and produce a 
much greater quantity of seeds. 
These seeds are often kept two years, but it is always best to sow new 
seeds when they can be obtained. The seeds ripen in August; when the 
pods turn to a dark colour, the seeds should be gathered; it is best done by 
reaping the stalks in the same manner as Wheat, spreading the stalks in 
rows upon the ground, and in four or five days the seeds will be fit to thresh 
out, provided the weather is dry; for if it lies long, the pods will open and 
let out the seeds. 
There are some of the Woad planters who feed down the leaves in 
winter with sheep, which is a very bad method; for all plants which are to 
remain for a future crop, should never be eaten by cattle, for that greatly 
weakens the plants. It is said that it cures the rot in sheep. 
The modern French Chemists contend, that as true an Indigo may be 
made from this plant, as from the Indigofera of India. 
Weld (Reseda Luteola). This plant is not uncommon in a wild state 
in pastures, fallow fields, waste places, and on dry banks and walls. Mr. 
Swayne observes, that it is one of the first plants which grow on the rubbish 
thrown out of coal-pits. It flowers in June and July. 
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 cultivated plant, growing from seeds sown in 
the spring, is annual. 
