654 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



The want of success witli indigo in tlie early days was proba- 

 bly owing far more to tbe imperfect knowledge of the methods 

 of preparation than to the want of the imported seed. It seems 

 to have been usually attempted at first to carry on indigo-making 

 in alternation with other labors. 



In an early Description of South Carolina * we read : " One 

 Slave may manage two acres and upwards [of indigo] and raise 

 provisions beside ; and have all the Winter Months to saw Lum- 

 ber and be otherwise employed in." 



And again : " I cannot leave this Subject without observing 

 how conveniently and profitably as to the change of Labour both 

 Indigo and Rice may be managed by the same persons : for the 

 Labour attending Indigo being over in the Summer Months, 

 those who are employed in it may afterwards manufacture Rice 

 in the ensuing Part of the Year, when it becomes most laborious ; 

 and after doing all this they will have some Time to spare for 

 Sawing Lumber and making Hogshead and other Staves to supply 

 the Sugar Colonies." 



In its best days indigo-making was a profession absorbing all 

 the thought of an entire plantation. 



An extended list of " Rules and Directions as practiced by an 

 ingenious Person who practiced them with much Success" is 

 given in Dr. Hewit's Historical Account of South Carolina and 

 Georgia.! Another even more explicit description of the pro- 

 cesses used is given by Du Rose in his Reminiscences. From these 

 and other sources the" following details of methods in vogue 

 among professionals have been compiled : 



The ground to be planted was plowed or turned up with hoes 

 some time in December, that the frost might render it rich and 

 mellow. Afterward it was harrowed, cleaned from all roots, 

 grass, etc., well drained, and thoroughly pulverized. After all 

 danger of frost was over in South Carolina about the beginning 

 of April the fields were laid off in drills about an inch deep and 

 twelve to fifteen inches apart. In these drills the seeds, mixed 

 with lime and ashes, were sown. 



Mr. Hewit tells us : " The next thing to be considered is the 

 choice of seed, in which the planters should be very nice. There 

 is great variety of it, and from every one good indigo may be 

 made, but none answers so well in this colony as the true Gauti- 

 mala, which if good is a small, oblong black seed, very bright and 

 full, and when rubbed in the hand will appear as if highly pol- 

 ished. A bushel of seed will sow four English acres." 



If the season was a fair one, the seeds came up in ten days or 



* Same book referred to in the first note of this article, 

 f Included in Carroll's Historical Collections. 



