CARTHAMUS 



TINCTORIUS 



Dye 



Oil-yielding 

 Forms. 



THE SAFFLOWER PLANT 



Dye-yielding 

 Forms. 



Spiny and 



Spineless 



Forms. 



Grown as a 

 Pot-herb. 



The Dye and 

 the Oil Crops. 



Safflower 

 Dye. 



Safflower or 

 Carthamine. 



Wedding 

 Garments. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Bengal. 



Assam. 

 C. Prov. 



TJ. Prov. 



Panjab. 



conditions recur again and again with the oil-yielding and the dye-yielding 

 races, so that no set of characters can be given, to separate the groups 

 that belong to the one or the other. Speaking broadly, however, the 

 oil-yielding forms are more spinose than the dye-yielding, and have 

 usually yellow-coloured flowers, the dye forms being orange or even yellow 

 tinged with scarlet. The dye-yielding plants require a rich soil and 

 humid atmosphere, hence the loss of spines may be due to high cultivation 

 and protection. In the young state the smooth-leaved spineless forms 

 are edible, and in some parts of the country, notably Burma, they are 

 mainly, if not exclusively, grown as pot-herbs. But within each of the 

 great centres of production there may be both smooth and spinose forms. 

 Thus in Bengal a spinose dye-plant is known as Jcuthi or kutela and a 

 spineless dye-state called murdi, murilla (= shaved), bhuili. In the 

 United Provinces the spineless Jcusum affords both dye and oil, while 

 the spinose form distinguished as Jcasar, kasur, is grown for its oil-seeds 

 only. In Berar (Sule, Monog. Dyes and Dyeing, 1895-6, 1) the spiny 

 Jcati Jcardi yields an inferior dye and good oil, while spineless bodki gives 

 a superior dye. In Bombay two great centres of production exist, viz. 

 on the rich alluvial loams of Kaira and Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, where 

 the spineless red-flowered dye-yielding kusumbyachi or Jcusumba prevails, 

 and the Deccan, with its spiny sadhi or Jcardai, an oil- yielding crop. [Cf. 

 Fawcett, Monog. Dyes and Dyeing, Bomb., 1896, 25-9.] Briefly Bengal is 

 (or rather was) the source of Tcusum dye, and the Deccan of the safflower 

 oil. These products may therefore be dealt with separately : 



/. THE DYE Safflower or Carthamine. So much has been written 

 regarding the cultivation and utilisation of safflower that a brief 

 review of the modern results seems all that is called for. But it may 

 be explained that the various provincial Governments of India issued, in 

 1896, monographs on " Dyes and Dyeing," and that these will be found 

 to have special chapters on safflower. So also The Agricultural Ledger 

 (1904, No. 11) may be described as a compilation of the more im- 

 portant passages from modern writers, and it thus amplifies the particulars 

 recorded in the Dictionary. The remarks that follow will accordingly 

 be restricted as far as possible to facts calculated to assist the mer- 

 chant or cultivator, but will abstain from republishing technical details, 

 especially methods of dyeing. But in this connection it may be observed 

 that safflower has preserved its position in spite of foreign dyes, mainly 

 through the colour being viewed as more or less sacred for wedding 

 garments. 



Cultivation. Safflower, though by no means so important a crop as 

 in former years, is still grown to a fair extent in the Dacca Division of 

 Bengal, and here and there throughout the Province. Taylor (Topog. and 

 Stat. Dacca, 1840, 133-5) gives an interesting account of the production 

 during the prosperity of the industry. The best quality was grown in the 

 vicinity of Pattergotta. Safflower is also met with in the Surma Valley 

 and in Manipur, but not in the Assam Valley proper. In the Central Pro- 

 vinces it used to be extensively produced inRaipur andChhindwara, but the 

 area in recent years has been greatly curtailed. In the United Provinces 

 of Agra and Oudh, though met with now and again, it assumes importance 

 in Meerut only. In the Panjab it is to be seen in most districts, but 

 Hoshiarpur and Amballa are perhaps most spoken of, and the safflower 

 of the hills, especially that of Kabul, has the best reputation. The wild 



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