PACE, -EF: 
THE FACTORS UNDERLYING THE SEED PRODUCTION AND 
GROWTH OF JAVA INDIGO IN BIHAR. 
I. SED PRODUCTION. 
In 1913, when we took up the investigation of Java indigo in Bihar, the 
seed problem was acute and the industry was in danger of extinction from 
this cause alone. The supplies had fallen so low that they were insufficient 
for sowing while the price had reached a point which seriously reduced the 
margin of profit. 
The method of raising indigo seed in vogue in 1913, was to allow the best 
of the fields to flower after the second cut of leaf was taken in August. This 
involved the production of seed from plant greatly dimimished in vigour both 
by the growth of two cuts of leaf and by the unfavourable soil conditions set 
up by the monsoon. The result was insufficient seed and moreover the wrong 
type of seed. This arose from two causes. The early, rapidly growing types 
in the mixture flowered in September and early October, when the air was too 
damp for fertilization to take place. The bulk of the seed was obtained from 
the later deep-rooting types. This method of seed growing, therefore, adversely 
altered the botanical composition of the crop. The shortage of seed which 
resulted necessitated a considerable amount of importation. At first, this 
was obtained from Java, where the supply for Bihar was grown by the natives, 
who naturally paid no attention either to the type or to methods of selection. 
In recent years, supplies have been purchased from Assam and the United 
Provinces, and indeed from any locality in India which happened to have indigo 
seed for sale. The feature of these external seed supplies was the entire 
absence of selection of forms suitable for Bihar conditions. 
The results of our investigation on wilt show that the type of indigo 
required in Bihar is a surface-rooting, rapidly growing plant which is. also 
resistant to waterlogging. As Java indigo is a mass of heterozygotes and as 
the range of possible forms is very great, it follows that it is not sufficient 
merely to isolate a suitable type by selection. The type must be maintained 
