PRODUCTION IN UNITED PROVINCES 



INDIGOFERA 



Cultivation 



Two Crop*. 



/ .i> cr Bengal. " The chief crop of indigo in Lower Bengal is 



from the annnallv inundated tracts of land. The seed is usually 

 sown liroaih ast upon the muddy banks left by the retreating water d 

 the earlv part of October. In the case of the higher lands on ly 

 plough used and the land, to a certain extent, prepared. The crop is 

 cut in the following June and July" (Leake). 



In the districts of Bihar south of the Ganges, Patna, Gaya and Shaha- 

 li;nl. i he system of cultivation is closely allied to that pursued in the United 

 Provinces. The soil is non-retentive of moisture, and the sowings are 

 carried on chiefly during the rainy season in July, August, and September. 

 The early rainy-season sowings are called asarhi, and the crop from these 

 is cut in September and October. The later sowings continue to grow 

 throughout the year and are reaped in July and August, when the crop is 

 known as khnnti. but that name is also applied to the second year's crop 

 from the early sowings. 



[Cf. Montgomery Martin, Hist. E. Ind., 1838, ii., 866-9; iii., 248-57 ; Taylor. 



ii. and Stat. Dacca, 1840, 132, 135-6 ; Westland, Rept. Dist. of Jestore, 

 l^Tt, 135-6, 197, 211, app. iii., vii.-viii. ; McCann, Dyes and Tans Beng., 1883, 

 ''.? 126; Grierson, Bihar Peasant Life, 1885, 243-4; Reid, Cult, and Manuf. 



ligo, 1887, 74-80, 103-14; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 105-6; Voelcker, 

 Im-prov. Ind. Agri., 1893, 257-65 ; Rawson, Cult, and Manuf. of Indigo in 



.. in Planters' Gaz., July 29, 1899, 155-6; Aug. 5, 189; Aug. 12, 219-20; 

 Aug. 19, 252; Imp. Inst. Journ., Aug. 1899, 208; Rawaon, Gardner & Laycock, 

 Diet. Dyes, Mordants, etc., 1901, 172 ; Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 411-6 ; 

 Admin. Rept. Beng., 1901-2, 27-9 ; Java Indigo, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i., 

 j)t. ii., 170 ; Germination of Java Indigo in Bihar, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i., 

 pt. iii., 262-3.] 



UNITED PROVINCES. Area and Production. The area in 1904-5 

 was 107,516 acres : 98,695 acres in Agra and 8,821 in Oudh. The estimated 

 outturn was 8,000 cwt. These figures show a great contraction on those 

 of the previous year. The chief districts in Agra are ordinarily Aligarh, 

 Azamgarh, Balandshahr, Etah, Cawnpore, Mainpuri ; and in Oudh, Fyza- 

 bad. The final forecast for 1906-7 shows a still larger reduction to 

 40,374 acres : viz. 34,809 in Agra and 5,565 in Oudh. This represents a 

 decrease of 75'2 per cent, on the average area of the years 1900-4, and 

 of 83-5 on the average for 1895-1904. 



Commenting on these provinces, Leake says, " In the districts forming seed Supply, 

 the west of the United Provinces and the east of the Panjab, the cultiva- 

 tion of indigo for dye is practically extinct. The plant is, however, still 

 grown to supply seed to Bihar. The seed is sown broadcast after the land 

 has been irrigated and ploughed during March and April, and in those 

 districts where dye is manufactured the plant is ready to be cut in August, 

 but is left in the ground till December if seed is required. The process of 

 dye manufacture, where practised, is essentially similar to that of Bihar." 

 According to Duthie and Fuller (Field and Garden Crops, 1882, i., 43-50, 

 t. xii.) it may be sown either in spring or at the commencement of the rains. 

 In the first case it is called jamowa or chaiti, in the second asarhi. Jamowa TWO Crops. 

 i in 1 igo is ready to cut in August, asarhi a month later. Land under jamowa 

 is as a rule ploughed up immediately the crop is cut ; asarhi indigo is left 

 in the ground till the following rains, when it springs up again and yields 

 a khunti rop. Generally it is sown alone, though occasionally mixed Mid crop*, 

 with judr (Sorghum rulf/are) or arhar (Cnjdiiux imiirns), and is 

 surrounded with a border of castor or san (hemp). A loam is prepared ; 

 but where copious irrigation is possible, much of the cultivation is on the 



670 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 406-9. 

 U. Prov. 



Ar.-i.-". 



