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more beautiful within than without, and look flilning, 



and as it were filvered. 



If it is too heavy in proportion to its bulk, it ought 

 to be fufpcfted, and its quality examined into j for as 

 it often bears a confiderable price, it is fit that thdfc 

 who buy it, Ihould be acquainted with the frauds that 

 xnay be committed in it. 



The firft is the beating the plant too much in the 

 fteeper, th^t the leaves and rind of it may be entirely 

 confumed. It is certain that the quantity of the mat- 

 ter is very confiderably increafcd by this difiblution, 

 but the Indigo is a great deal the lefs beautiful for it ; 

 It is blackilh, thick, heavy, and fitter to be throv/n 

 away than ufed. , 



The fecond is the mixing afhes, earth, or a certain 

 brown fhining fand (which is pretty commonly found 



in the bays by the fea-fide) and cfpecially powdered 

 fiate, with the fseces, as they fall into the devilling, 

 and itirring all well together, that it may incorporate, 

 and the fraud not appear : and this fraud is much more 

 eafily committed in the powdered Indigo, than in that 



• which is in cakes ; becaufe it is very difficult for thofe 

 heterogeneous bodies to unite fo well together, as not 

 to make in many places, as it were, beds of a different 



■ matter ; and then, by breaking the piece of Indigo, 



• they are eafily perceived. 

 The two following expedients may be irlade ufe 



' of, in order to know the goodnefs or badnefs of 



Indigo. 



The firft is to dilTolve a bit of it in a glafs of water. 



If it is pure and well made, it it will entirely difiblve ; 



but if it is adulterated, "the foreign matter will fink to 



■ the bottom of the glafs: ^'';':' ' -^ ^. - - • -. 



The fecond is to' burn it. The good Indigo will burn 



all away, whereas the afhes, earth, fand, and flate, 



remain after the true Indigo is confumed. 



'' In 1694, Indigo was fold at the Windv/ard Iflands, 



. from three livres ten fols, to four livres pei" pound, 



\. according to its beauty, and the number of velTels to 



tops J 



ofln- 

 for it 



be freighted with it. I have known it fince at a much 

 V -lower price; however, the planter would not fail of 

 * ^ making a very confiderable profit of it, though he 

 '■^.fliould fell it for no more than forty fols per pound, 

 ■' becaufe this commodity requires fewer utenfils and lefs 

 ' "charges than a fugar-work. 

 Since the cultivation of Indigo was introduced in 

 Sobtli Carolina, great quantities of that ufeful dye has 



N O 



grow, were the plants allowed a greater fliare of rooirf, 

 lo that the Ituiks confill of little cilc but ftrong vct- 

 fels which nre not difTolvable by the fermentation, and 

 It IS only the upper parts of the plant which are fur- 

 nifned with leaves, like young trees grov/in^r clofe to- 

 gether w!iich arc drawn up with Qendl-r ilenTs, having 

 no latcral^ branches, nor leaves, but at their 

 therefore it is not to be fupporcd,a great quantity 

 digo can be produced from plants fo manao-ed ; 

 is a common obfervation of the cultivators of Woad 

 that when their plants fpire, and have narrow thin 

 leaves, they produce but little of the dye ^ fo that 

 they make choice of rich flrong land for fowin^-r the 

 feeds of this plant, and are careful to thin them, 

 that they may have room to fpread, and produce lar^e 

 fucculent leaves, from which they always reap the 

 greateft profit. If the planters of Indigo in America 

 would but imitate the cultivators of Woad in this par- 

 ticular, they would certainly find their advantage in 

 fo doing. 



Another thing in which they err is, letting the plant 

 ftand too long before they cut it, fuppofing from the 

 height of the plant to procure a great quantity of the 

 dye ; but in this they are greatly miftaken, for the 

 older the plant is before it is cut, the drier and firmer 

 will be the ftalks ; therefore but little of the plant 

 will be difTolved by fermentation, nor will the feces 

 of the old plants be near fo beautiful as that of the 

 young. Therefore it is to be wiflied, that they would 

 try fome few experiments in the culture and manage- 

 ment of the plants, by fowing thin, and keeping the 

 {)lants perfeftly clean from v/eeds •, as alfo to cut them 

 while young and full of juice, and hereby they will be 

 better infornied how to improve it to the greateft ad- 



vantage. 



But as labpur is dear in that country, io 

 many perfons probably object to the expence of culti- 

 vating the Indigo in this method ; therefore, toavoid 

 this, I have before propofed fowiiTg the feeds with a 



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drill plough, whereby the firft expence will be greatly 

 lefTened, and the feeds more equally fown ; and by the 

 ufe of the hoe^plough, ten acres may be kept clean 

 from weeds with as fmall expence, as one when ma- 

 naged by the hand hoe > and by ftirring of the ground 

 often, and earthing up the plants, they would gro\^ 

 much ftronger, be lefs liable of being deftro)xd by 

 flies, and have larger and more fuccuTcnt ftalks and 

 leaves. 



.^en brought from thence to England ; and it riiay be I I N G A. See Mimosa. 

 ". 'hoped that the encouragement granted by parliament INOCULATING, or Budding. ' This is com- 

 ^ to the planters, will, enable them to profecute this I monly pradlifed upon all forts of ftone fruit, in parti- 

 ""tranch of commerce with fuch fuccefs, as to be a J ; cular, fuch as Peaches, Nedarines, Cherries, Plums, 



'&c. as alfo Oranges and JafmirieSj and is preferable 

 . ibatiy fort df grafting foFmoftfortiof^^^^ Thcrne- 

 thod of performing it is 5s folldw? iYou thuft be pro- 

 vided with ailiajp^ penknife, having a flat haft (the 

 ^ ufe of which is to raife the bark of the ftock, to ad- 

 VHlft 9ie bud) and fonie found bafs mat, which Ihould 

 ''be foaked in wafer '^6 increafe its ftrength, and' make 

 it liibre pliable ; theft having taken off the cuttings 

 from the trees you would propagate, ybii fhould 

 choofe a fmooth part of the ftock about five or fix 

 inches above the furface of the ground, if defigned 

 for dwarfs, arid for half ftandards at three feet ; but 

 for ftandards, they fhould be budded fix or more feet 

 above ground ; then with your knife make aft hbri- 

 * '^zontal cut crofs the rind of the ftock, and from the 

 middle of that cut make a flit downwards about two 

 inches in length, lo that it may be m the form 

 "" but you muft be careful not to cut too 'Heep, left 

 ybu wound the ftock : then having cut off the leaf 

 from the bud, leaving the foot-ftalk remaining, you 

 fhould make a crofs cut about half an inch below the 

 eye, and with your knife flit off the bud, with part 

 of the wood to ir, in form of an efcutcheon : this 

 done, you m.uft with your knife pull oft' that part of 

 the wood which was taken v/ith the "bud, obfcrving 

 whether the eye of the bud be left to it, or not (for ail 

 thofe buds which lofe their eyes in ftripping, ihould 

 be thrown away, being good for nothing) then having 

 gently raifcd the bark of the ftock where the crofs in- 



cifion 



great national benefit, and of equal advantage to that 



cblony'rt)Ut"as yet tlie planters have not arrived to 



., fo much perfeftion in the making of it as c6lild be 



wifhed ; for moft of the Indigo which I have feen of 



.. jhe produce of that country, has been fo hard as to 



^' ' Vender it difficult to diffolve, occafioned by theTr pour- 



^^mg a quantity of lime-water into the vat, ih order to 



"make the fsec^s of the plant fubfide. ' I have alfo 



/^been informed by letters from many of the planters, 



that after the fermentation of the plant in the vat, it 



comes out again alirjoll entire, being but in a very 



imall proportion lelfeneHj either in oulk or weight. 



1 his may probably be owing, in great part, to their 



"culture of thb plant, 'Wi\hft6th their vdts'n6't'being * 



*. large enough to contain a fuificient quantity of the 



^lierb, to make the fermentation ftrong enqugli to^ 



difTolve it j or from the vats Being built in trie open [ 



' /air, whereby the fernientatTon may be impeded, by ' 



thfe cbdlefr breezes of the evening air : for in the iflands 



-Where the beft Indigo is Aiade, their vatS atie all built 



undercover, where their heat is much greater than 



thltin Carolina, therefore this requires the attention 



, of the planters of Indigo. ' ]\ ' 



.As to the culture of the plant, by all the inforrriation I 



have been able to procure from thence, they commit 



* a great error in fd\ving their feeds too thick, whereby 



th^ plants are dra\^n up with flender ftems, which are 



^ not fufficiently garnifhed with leaves 5 nor are the 



leaves^ fo large and fucculent as they would naturally 



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