W OAD. 
mentation, which is accomplished in the course 
of 7 or 8 weeks, and is called ‘couching.’ It is 
effected by regrinding the balls in the same mill 
as before to a fine powder, and then spreading it 
upon the floor of the rooms in which the balls 
were formed to the thickness of three feet. It 
is then moistened with water so as to keep it 
in a slow state of fermentation, which is ma- 
naged by frequent turnings, and to be pro- 
perly done requires practice and judgment, for 
the goodness of the article will depend on its 
being stored and dried in a proper manner. When 
this attention is neglected, the woad will not on 
being broken between the finger and thumb draw 
out into fine hair-like filaments, or, as the ma- 
nufacturers call it, beaver well; as the use of this 
substance in the vat of the dyer is not only to 
afford the colour of the plant, but, by bringing 
in a very gentle fermentation, excite the indigo 
in the same vat to yield its colouring principle 
more perfectly. This is even necessary for its 
own colouring matter being fully imparted. The 
substance should, therefore, be so prepared in the 
different operations as to produce this effect in 
the most certain and perfect manner. When 
the heat in the process of ‘couching’ has gone 
too far, the substance will be what is called foxy ; 
and when it has not proceeded to a sufficient de- 
gree, it is called heavy. If the material is good, 
it does not svil the fingers on being rubbed be- 
tween them; but such as is heavy does. In the 
conclusion of the process, the cooling is effected 
in so gradual a manner as to render it not fit for 
taking on the same process, and, of course, pro- 
per for being preserved in casks or in any other 
way. It is then fit for use. 
The French process of preparing this dye differs 
materially, and is thus described by Astruc, in 
his Natural History of Languedoc :—The plant 
puts forth at first five or six upright leaves about 
a foot long and six inches broad ; when they hang 
downwards and turn yellow, they are fit for ga- 
thering; five crops are gathered in one year. 
The leaves are carried directly to a mill, much 
resembling the oil or tan mills, and ground into 
a smooth paste. If this process were deferred for 
some time, they would putrefy and send forth an 
insupportable stench. ‘The paste is laid in heaps 
pressed close and smooth, and the black crust 
which forms on the outside reunited if it happens 
to crack; if this were neglected, little worms 
would be produced in the cracks, and the woad 
would lose part of its strength. After lying for 
15 days, the heaps are opened, the crust rubbed 
and mixed with the inside, and the matter form- 
ed into oval balls, which are pressed close and 
solid in wooden moulds. These are dried upon 
hurdles; in the sun they turn black on the out- 
side, in a close place yellowish, especially if the 
weather be rainy. The dealers in this commo- 
dity prefer the first, though, it is said, the work- 
men find no considerable difference between the 
two. The good balls are distinguished by their 
_-WOOD. 157 
being weighty, of an agreeable smell, and when 
rubbed of a violet colour within. Those injured 
by wet have an earthy appearance inside and a 
disagreeable smell; the mouldy and rotten are 
light, having lost their substance. For the use 
of the dyer these balls require a further prepara- 
tion: they are beaten with wooden mallets on a 
brick or stone floor into a gross powder, which is 
heaped up into the middle of the room to the 
height of four feet, a space being left for passing 
round the sides. The powder, moistened with 
water, ferments, grows hot, and throws out a 
thick fetid fume. It is shovelled backwards and 
forwards, and moistened every day for 12 days, 
after which it is stirred less frequently without 
watering, and at length made into a heap for the 
dyer. The French, who certainly excel us in the 
art of dyeing, still consume a vast deal of woad, 
and this may be attributed to its superior quality 
produced by their peculiar method of manufac- 
turing it. 
Woad has sometimes been recommended for 
cultivation as a forage plant; and, when so des- 
tined, is sometimes designated by its French name 
‘pastal.’ But its value in this capacity is not 
great; for though it has a hardy nature, a vig- 
orous growth, and a nutritious composition, it 
makes excessive demands upon both the fertility 
of the soil and the tillage labours of the husband- 
man, and refuses to yield large produce in any of 
the inferior or the ordinary circumstances of soil 
and tilth in which other forage plants, scarcely 
or not at all inferior to it in hardiness and bulk, 
are abundantly productive. Even the practice of 
feeding sheep in winter upon crops of it intended 
for the dyer is questionable ; for it probably occa- 
sions more loss in the ultimate value than affords 
profit in the present use. 
WOLD. See Dyzur’s Weep. 
WOLDS. See Downs. 
WOLFSBANE. See Aconitz. 
WOLVES’ TEETH. Any teeth in the horse 
which acquire such rough or pointed surfaces as 
to lacerate the tongue or gums. See the article 
TEETH. 
WOMB. Sst Azortion, Parturition, and Iv- 
FLAMMATION. 
WOOD. Either the characteristic principle 
and main constituent of trees and shrubs,—and 
that is discussed in the article Lianin; or the 
hard portion of the stems and boughs of trees 
and shrubs, suitable for use in carpentry and 
turnery,—and that is discussed in the article 
TIMBER; or the chief bulk or entire substance of 
trees and shrubs,—and that is discussed in the 
articles Trex and Survs; or any collection or 
assemblage of living trees and shrubs,—and that 
is discussed in the articles Coppice, SaruBBeEry, 
Grove, Forsst, and Prantarion. 
Small woods on farms are common in some 
parts of Britain, particularly in the South of 
England, and are useful for hop-poles, fence-rails, 
hurdles, faggots, and many other objects of the 
