60 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



The growth of indigo. A large amount of carsful 

 experimental work has been carried out on the conditions 

 necessary for the establishment of the ordinary crop. 

 Sowing should be done early — if possible before the hathii 

 in the beginning of October — and the land should be clean 

 fallowed and well cultivated beforehand. Later sowings 

 are nothing like so successful. As regards the soil condi- 

 tions necessary, the addition of moderate dressings of 

 organic matter, applied in the hot weather or on the early 

 rains, greatly assists in the establishment of the seedlings 

 and in the early growth of the crop. If sown on very poor 

 land, it has always been observed that Java indigo estab- 

 lishes with great difficulty and that numerous blank spaces 

 occur. These results indicate the need of combined nitro- 

 gen for the early growth of this leguminous crop. This 

 was confirmed by the behaviour of indigo on plots uniformly 

 manured with 15 maunds of oilcake to the acre, a portion 

 of which was waterlogged for a month before the crop was 

 sown. It is known from previous experience of the Pusa 

 soil that waterlogging for a month during the late monsoon 

 is sufficient to bring about extensive losses of combined 

 nitrogen through denitrification. On the waterlogged por- 

 tion of the plot, the indigo grew with great slowness at the 

 beginning compared with the control and this difference 

 has always been maintained through the hot weather. 

 Thus the field results as well as those secured by the modi- 

 fied system of pot culture, all point to the need of combined 

 nitrogen in establishing a good stand of Java indigo. On 

 the other hand, it is well known that heavy dressings of 

 substances like seeth, oilcake, and farmyard manure stimu- 

 late vegetative growth at the expense of indican formation, 

 a process which takes place best if the plant is grown on 

 land somewhat on the poor side. An interesting field of 

 investigation is therefore indicated. It may be found to 

 pay to stimulate the crop a little by means of organic matter 

 so as to establish it rapidly and strongly even if the yfeld 

 of indican per 100 maunds of green plant is thereby slightly 

 reduced. The increased produce of indigo per acre might 



