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are taken off, three deep stir.he plough, or, which is much

onions, &c. Aster theftrings 'should be given wit'rbetter, with the spade : the first stirring should be in No-vember, and the other two in February, March, or April.If the land which is intended for woad I es flat, and has

or eight pounds, and sometimes not so much, A st acre ofland well husbanded will produce a ton of woad, also Jstgood seasons near a ton and a half. The first crop is g a "thered towards the end of August, and the, last at the end

of October, or in the beginning of November : but this

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not stops enough to carry effthe wet, channels must be cut j last crop must he got in befote the first frosts comes on ; !«■ofa greater oriefi, size, according as the ground is more; the leaves that might be gathered afterwards would, not b

worth any thing. When the plant is ripe, which is known

of a greateror less disposed to retain the water.

In wa:m climates, woad is sowT) so early as the begin-ning of April, unless the weather chances then to be toocold, in which cafe this sowing is deferred till the begin-ning of May : but for countries like ours, where the springis attended with frosts, particularly in the night, Mr.Miller is certainly right in advising to lay the land up innarrow high ridges just before winter, that the frost maymellow it; to cross plough it in the spring, laying it again innarrow ridges, and between this time and the ensuing monthof June to ha-row it well twice, at different intervals, inorder to root up whatever weeds may have appeared : then,in June, to give the ground a third plougtiingas deep as theplough will go, making the furrows narrow; after this,to harrow it again w’nenany new weedsare come up; andfinally, towards the end of July, or the beginning of Au-gust, to plow it for the last time, laying it as smooth aspossible. A good harrowing after this will fit it completelyto receive the feeds, which, if rain fall soon after theirbeing sown, or if they are steeped in water during thenight before the sowing, as Mr. Miller advises, will appearin a fortnight, if the season be favourable. They shouldbe but lightly covered, and should besowed so thin as thatthe plants may stand fix inches asunder. Some strew pi-geon’s dungon the land just after having sown it with woad,and the plants become much the finer for this manure.

It is a common custom to sow woad in broad cast: butall plants which require being hoed should certainly besowed in rows, because this method greatly lessens the la-. hour and time of hoeing; and besides, it is much easier,in this case, to give each plant its due distance.

When the woad is grown large enough to be distinguish-ed, it should be carefully cleared of ail weeds, for thesev/ould hurt it greatly; and at the same time the plantsshould be thinned wherever they stand too close : withoutthis precaution, the woad would produce but very fewleaves, and would remain extremely stinted in its growth.

The intervals between the plants should be stirredwhenever the season requires it; and in the doing of this,by which the weeds thereby rooted out will soon be de-stroyed in dry weather, care should be taken to lay a littleearth up around the stems of the woad. M. Du Hamel,whose account we have here resumed, says he has beenassured, that, in countries where there is a conveniencyof water, the woad-grounds are flooded ; but to reap anybenefit from this practice, the water should be in sufficientplenty for the husbandman to be able to repeat the flood-ing frequently; for otherwise the heat of the fun, afterhaving exhaled the water too soon, would harden the sur-face of the earth, and thereby greatly injure the plants.

Woad generally affords two crops in the sameyear, andsometimes when the season has been favourable, it hasyielded even four. The two first are the best, and theseare commonly mixed together in the manufacturing of thisplant : but the after crops are always kept separate ; forif these are mixed with the other, the whole will be spoiled.The twofivstcrops will fell for from twenty five to thirtypounds a ton; but the latter will not bring more than seven

by its si: st leaves beginning to dry. all the leaves are cut eftby a man who grasps the plants by handfulis, and they a[ Lthen laid in a heap to wither. Whilst they are in thistuation, they muff be sheltered from the son and rain, ai>dthey must be'frequently turned, in order that they mayJ heat equally : they are then carried to a mill somewhatlike that which is used for pressing the oil out of linseed,and are there ground till they are reduced into a past e »which is afterwards formed into cakes of about a poundweight, and these are laid to dry in a covered place,’ whereneither the son nor rain can come to them. Thi; paste 53dried thus for about a fortnight, that is to soy, till it b aSacquired consistence enough to be formed into small round-ish lumps, by means of little wooden moulds into v.'hh ^it is put for that purpose. A.s fast as these lumps are takenout of the moulds, they are laid upon wicker hurdles looselywoven, so as not to touch one another, and in such man-ner that the air may come at every part of them, aS iSpractised in the drying of starch. These lurnps becorn 3very hard, and in this condition it is that they are so'"'When they are to be used, they must be steeped a longwhile in water before they can be broken.

The woad thus prepared yields an excellent blue d)’ e :very lasting, and with which all the degrees of this coso u£may be made. It is not long since this plant was presets 6to indigo: afterwards, through a kind of toleration,dyers were allowed to put a small quantity of indigo i slt0their vats of woad ; but now that the making and matinsof using indigo have been greatly improved, it is look 6upon as a matter of indifference whether that or woad bused for dying blue.

At the last cutting of the woad, and with that cuttwL'the crown of the root is taken off ; whereas only the se aV ‘j Swere gathered in the preceding cuttings. When it is int en

ed to save the seed of woad, a small portion of the p| a(1tation should be allotted for this purpose at the last cUt£ '. n ^and then a part only of the leaves there should befrom the plants : but it is proper to retrench some ofbecause experience has shewn that the plants on vvbicntheir leaves are left run to feed too soon, and that t ^feeds have in this cafe often been distroyed by the c° .the ensuing spring. Thus woad, being a biennial P‘ a ‘ ,7

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should not be suffered to feed before the month oi t* -?in the second year after it has been sown ; and t ^ ere ve0 tCome of its leaves should be cut offin October, to p reits being too forward. ef „

Besides cold, weeds and drought, which are verynicious to woad, locusts will sometimes devour a, ^field of it in an evening. When these enemies are o ' wed, all the leaves should be immediately cut off, tnaplants may put forth new ones. ,! crop

The fame field should not be made to bear a sec°n ^ aof woad immediately aster the first; for this P 1 ' 11 j. ee ngreat impoverishes of the ground : but aster it t |ie

great impoverishes of the ground : buttaken off, wheat may be sown the first year,J second, and in the third it may be laidwoad, if it has been well manured.

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