CARTHAMUS 



TINCTORIUS 

 Dye 



THE SAFFLOWEK PLANT 



Price. 



Trade in 

 the Dye. 



Early- 

 Statistics 

 Eecord. 



accounts for the lower price of Gujarat safflower as compared with that of 

 Dacca. Apparently also the yellow dye is not removed until a later 

 stage, and the oil would thus seem to serve no useful purpose. It recalls, 

 however, the practice described by Rumphius (I.e. 217), where the people 

 of the Malay are spoken of as adding the bruised oil-yielding seeds of 

 Aleurites triloba to prevent the florets from crumbling to dust. 



Safflower-dye cakes (Gujarat) are sold in Bombay at 2 to 2| Ib. per 

 rupee. The value is estimated according to the colour that a given weight 

 will impart to a pound of cotton. 



Trade in Safflower Dye. Madder in Europe and Safflower in India 

 are the dyes that felt immediately the effect of the discovery of chemical 

 colours. This, in the case of the Indian product, may be exemplified very 

 briefly. Half a century or so ago, safflower became a fairly important 

 commodity. It is curious, however, that none of the early travellers 

 in India mention the dye. The first botanist who describes its culti- 

 vation in the East would appear to be Rumphius. Milburn records the 

 exports in 1804 as having been 247 cwt., valued at 1,460, or 5 18s. 5d. 

 a cwt. Four years later the exports were 1,070 cwt., valued at 4,532, 

 or 4 4s. Sd. a cwt. An import duty at British ports was levied of 7s. 4d. 

 a cwt. In 1824-5 the exports from India appear to have been 6,185 cwt., 

 and in 1837 they stood at 7,962 cwt. Passing over a period of close on 

 forty years, we next learn that the Indian traffic had become (in 1874-5) 

 10,157 cwt., valued at Rs. 6,50,827 (or expressed at the rate of exchange 

 that then prevailed, approximately 60,000) ; but a sudden change took 

 place, for the very next year the traffic fell to 2,914 cwt., valued at 

 Rs. 1,63,528, and ten years still later (1884-5) had become 1,459 cwt., 

 Eecent Ketums. valued at Rs. 83,083. Within the past six years a revival in quantity 

 seems to have set in, since the exports were in 1899-1900, 1,993 cwt., 

 valued at Rs. 34,572, and in 1903-4 the corresponding figures were 4,313 

 cwt. and Rs. 67,506. They have since fallen, however, to 3,670 cwt., 

 Rs. 50,389, in 1906-7. A remarkable feature of the traffic thus briefly 

 outlined may be said to be the decline in the prices realised viz. from 

 5 18s. 5d. a cwt. to the price in 1901-2, viz. Rs. 20 or 1 6s. Sd. a cwt. 

 Even twenty years previously (1881-2) the price realised was nearly double 

 the rates that rule to-day. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that 

 safflower has ceased to be an important crop, and that but for the local 

 markets the dye might by now have disappeared from India as completely 

 as has the madder from Europe. 



The exports from India go mainly to Hongkong, but a recent 

 demand from Japan has been viewed as a favourable prognostication 

 for the future. The local market continues fairly large in spite of foreign 

 mineral dyes, owing to the fact that safflower is associated with the 

 social customs and religious feelings of the people. The varying quality 

 would seem to depend first of all upon the climate and soil of the locality 

 where produced ; next, the care pursued in collection, and the method of 

 preparation followed. With all the finer samples the yellow dye has been 

 washed out and the florets purified. This has naturally the effect of 

 lowering the weight and concentrating the dye. Washed safflower must 

 accordingly fetch a higher price than the impure and adulterated dye. 

 In further purification of the dye a second yellow colour is precipitated 

 and removed by means of acetate of lead. Carthamin, the valuable 

 red colour, may then be extracted in a pure form by making use of its 



280 



Japanese 

 Demands. 



Price. 



Carthamin. 



