52 



whicli make it necessary to treble the outlaj-, so that the cost of 

 labour and land is now proportionately much smaller. It is this 

 change which enables Ceylon planters to take up indigo cultivation 

 with ever)' chance of success and profit. The increased outlay is 

 chiefly due to the cost of scientific methods of manufacture, and the 

 very large additional outturn of dye obtained thereby has reduced 

 the cost of natural indigo of average quality (6o per cent, indigotine) 

 to Is. per lb. whereas the synthetic dye costs is. 6d. to manufacturer 

 and is sold at present at 8d. per lb. of 20 per cent paste equal to 2s. 

 per lb. of 6o per cent, indigotine. 



The way is, therefore, open for a revival of the natural indigo 

 industry on a better basis than ever before, for it is well-knovn that 

 the cost of the synthetic dye cannot be further reduced. It is gene- 

 rally acknowledged that natural indigo has better dyeing properties 

 than the synthetic product, and dyers will give preference to the 

 natural dye if they can get it at the same price of a standard quality 

 and in the more convenient form of a paste. Such a standard natural 

 indigo paste of keeping qualities has now been produced ; it has been 

 tested by practical dyers, it has met with the approval of Mincing 

 Lane brokers, and it finds a ready demand and sale at a remunerative 

 price. 



It will, of course, take some time before an indigo industry on 

 these up-to-date lines is established even in Behar. But a beginning 

 has been made there and it is to be hoped Ceylon will follow suit, for 

 here there is no lack of enterprising men with a command of credit and 

 ready money, which is essential. The climate is favourable, the soil is 

 suitable, and, in short, we have here all thj eUmjnts that should en- 

 sure success. 



The indigo plant grows better in Ceylon than in Behar. It 

 grows wild in the low-country and at high altitudes, it is found up to 

 5,000 feet, it grows in the dry districts and in the wet districts, and 

 there are some sixteen varieties of Iiidigofera indigenous to the Island. 

 The plant grows in Ceylon for the greater part of the year (excepting 

 the ver>' dry districts), and will yield three to four cuttings in the 

 twelve months ; whereas in Northern India, where there are four 

 months of cold weather and three months of drought, only one good 

 cutting can be obtained, the second cutting depending much on the 

 season, and, at the best, yielding only a half crop. 



Mr. Teixeira de Mottos, General Secretary of the Midden Java 

 Planters' Association, has given me the crop outturn of Indigofera 

 arrecta in Java as amounting per acre to 32,000 lb. per year for three 

 cuttings, the yearly outlay being Rs. 100 per acre. This crop outturn 

 of green could, I feel certain, be reached here also in Ceylon, where- 

 ever the rainfall is over 60 inches for the year, and where the fall is 

 well divided between the south-west and north-east monsoons. 



In the dry districts of the Island, with only one monsoon, and a 

 rainfall of only about 40 inches spread over four to five months of 

 the year, we can only expect two cuttings, which might be estimated 

 to vield about 20,000 lb. of crop per acre, for in Behar I have the 



