TERRE Verte, in the colour-trade, the name of a green earth much used by painters, both singly for a good standing green, and in mixture with other colours. The name is French, and signifies, "green earth."

It is an indurated clay, of a deep bluish green colour, and is found in the earth, not in continued strata or beds, as most of the other earths are, but in large flat masses of different sizes, imbedded in other strata; these break irregularly in the cutting, and the earth is generally brought out of the pit in lumps of different sizes. It is of a fine, regular, and even structure, and not very hard. It is of an even and glossy surface, very smooth to the touch, and in some degree resembling the moroccothus or French chalk, but adhering firmly to the tongue. It does not stain the hand in touching it; but being drawn along a rough surface, it leaves an even white line, with a greenish cast.

It does not effervesce with acids, and burns to a dusky brown colour. It is dug in the island of Cyprus, and in many parts of France and Italy. That from the neighbourhood of Verona has been esteemed the best in the world; but of late there has been some dug in France that equals it. There is also an earth dug on Mendip Hills, in the sinking for coal, which, though wholly unobserved, is nearly, if not wholly, of equal value. When scraped, and the finer parts separated, it is ready to be made up with oil for the use of the painters, and makes the most true and lasting green of any simple body they use.