INDIGOFERA 



Bombay 



THE INDIGO PLANT 



Cost. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 410-1. 

 C. Frov. 

 and Berar. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 409-10. 



Panjab. 



Areas. 



Seed 

 Production. 



Sown with 



Irrigation. 



Seasons. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 410-1. 

 Rajputana 

 and Central 

 India. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 411-3. 

 Bombay. 



lightest possible sand. Four ploughings are held advisable, though fre- 

 quently in canal-irrigated districts the land receives only one. For jamowa 

 indigo the ground must be watered before ploughing, while the asarhi 

 fields are not ploughed till softened by the rains. The crop must be kept 

 free of weeds, and two weedings at least are required. The cost of culti- 

 vating an acre of jamowa indigo, to be cut in August and followed by a 

 rabi crop, is estimated at Rs. 15-7a. 



[Cf. Atkinson, Oaz. U. Prov., 1875, ii., pt. i., 378-9, 423-4, 472-6 ; 1876, 

 iii., pt. ii., 236, 307-10, 463; 1876, iv., pt. i., 93-4, 251; Wright, Mem. Agri. 

 Cawnpore, 1877, 28-30 ; Buck, Dyes and Tans, 1878, 1-12, 9-94 ; Reid, Cult, and 

 Manuf. of Indigo, 1887, 81-9, 115-21 ; Dist. Oaz. U. Prov.; Settl. Repts.] 



CENTRAL PROVINCES AND BERAR. Area and Production. 

 Only 110 acres were reported in 1904-5 as under indigo, these being in the 

 districts of Buldana, Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur and Chanda. In Akola 

 the seed is sown about the middle of the rainy season or latter half of July, 

 and the plant is ready for use in October or November, when the flowers 

 begin to form. [Cf. Sule, Monog. Dyes and Dyeing, Berar, 1896, 2.] 



PANJAB. Area and Production. The estimated area in 1904-5 

 was 53,000 acres, and the yield 9,900 cwt. The large interest in seed 

 cultivation accounts apparently for the disproportion of yield to acreage. 

 The most important districts are Multan, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi 

 Khan and Rohtak. The final forecast for 1906-7 estimates the area at 

 62,300 acres, as against 67,500 in 1904-5. This total is shown to be 

 19'3 per cent, below the decennial average. The recent effort by the 

 planters themselves to produce specially improved new seed could have 

 had no other consequence than to disturb and possibly curtail the 

 demand for Native seed. The following are the returns of seed pro- 

 duction in the Panjab for the past four years : 1904, 1,673,800 seers ; 

 1905, 1,785,000 seers ; 1906, 3,227,600 seers ; and 1907, 1,248,900 seers. 



" The easterly districts of the Panjab should be considered in conjunction 

 with the United Provinces. In the west, however, in Multan, Dera Ghazi 

 Khan and Muzaffargarh, the methods are very primitive, and the market 

 supplied is the purely Native trade across the north-west frontier. The 

 plant is sown on irrigation, and hence the date of sowing depends on that 

 of the opening of the canals usually during May. By September the 

 crop is ready to be cut, after which the plant may be ploughed up or left 

 for a second, and, sometimes, even a third, year." " Lands subject to river 

 inundation are considered unsui ted; in other words, a prejudice exists against 

 over-inundation. The land is prepared during the cold season after the 

 winter rains, and sowing takes place from March 1 to May 15. The field 

 is first flooded and the seeds scattered broadcast on the water. Irrigation 

 is given every third day till the plants are about a foot high, then every 

 eight or ten days " (Leake). [Cf. Morris, Cult, and Manuf. Indigo in 

 Mooltan, Gaz. Mootian Dist., 1883-4, app. A, 161-6 ; Panjab, Dist. GazJ] 



RAJPUTANA AND CENTRAL INDIA. Small quantities are grown 

 in Ajmir and in the Native States of Jaipur, Marwar, Gwalior and Tonk. 

 In Ajmir the seed is sown broadcast in the month of June or as soon as- 

 the rains set in. When the young plants are above ground the grass is 

 weeded out by a process of hand-hoeing. Reaping commences about 

 October. 



BOMBAY AND SIND. Area and Production. The late Mr. E. C. 

 Ozanne, then Director of Agriculture, Bombay, wrote in his Annual Report 

 (1885-6, 36-7) that" In the 16th and 17th centuries, indigo, paxtly of 



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