Woad

a valuable dyeing drug, whose use however has been considerably superseded by indigo.. It gives a full-bodied and very fast blue to wool, though not very bright, so that it is always mixt with indigo at present. The mode of cultivating and preparing woad in Thu ring i a is thus given by Wedelius. Woad requires a very rich deep soil, well manured and tilled. The seed is put in the ground in February. In June the leaves turn yellowish, _and the plant begins to flower, which is the time for gathering the first crop, which is done by mowing down the whole plant close to the ground. It is then rinsed in water and spread out in the sun, and when dry enough, it is round in mills toa fine paste, which is further atied by ventilation. This paste is then made up into cakes, which are heaped upon each _ other in a covered room, whereby they soon ferment, heat, and exhale a most penetrating, nauseous, ammoniacal odour, which spreads to @ great distance. This fermentation is kept up _ for a sufficient time, occasionally watering the cakes when the heat is too great, till the whole falls into a coarse powder, in which state the woad is again made up into balls, and is ready for use. The root of the plant throws out a fresh crop of young shoots, which are fit to eut in about six weeks after the first harvest, and are: managed in the same way; and sometimes, if the season continues dry and warm, a third crop may be got in the same year, but this is much inferior to the two first. The fermentation of the woad plant is peculiarly violent, and much practical skill is ae a the management of it, for if suffered to heat too much the whole is converted to a black effete ma , and the blue colour, for which the -plant is cultivated, is totally destroyed. ‘The fermentation is both moderated and prolonged by the great hardne of the cakes, which cannot easily be broken up till they crumble to pieces of themselves by their spontaneous action.