INDIGO. 225 



stroyed, but the salts and especially potash in an available 

 form, are produced in the greatest abundance. Some of the 

 best soils in Virginia have been ruined by a constant succession 

 of tobacco crops, the necessary result of neglect in supplying 

 them with the constituents of fertility so' largely abstracted. 

 The yield per acre is generally from 1,500 to 2,500 Ibs. It is 

 a profitable crop when the best kinds are cultivated, under 

 favorable circumstances of soil and climate. The total esti- 

 mated product of the United States for 1843, was over 185,- 

 000,000 Ibs., of which Kentucky furnished 52,000,000, and 

 Virginia nearly 42,000,000 Ibs. Missouri, Ohio and other 

 western States are rapidly becoming large producers. 



INDIG-O (Indigofera tinctoria, Fig. 48). 



Indigo was formerly cultivated in the southern States, to a 

 limited degree, but the introduction of 

 cotton, the great profits which it yield- 

 ed, and its consequent rapid extension, 

 drove the culture almost entirely on to 

 foreign soils. The decline in the price 

 of cotton from large production, the 

 increasing consumption of indigo iu 

 this country, together with the dimin- 

 ished price of other southern staples, 

 will probably again make it an object 

 of agricultural attention in those States 

 where the soil and climate are suited 

 to it. We have no detailed history of 

 its cultivation in the United States, 

 Fio.~48. a nd I quote from London. 



He says, " it is one of the most profitable crops in Hindostan, 

 because labor and land here are cheaper than any where else ; 

 and because the raising of the plant and its manufacture 

 may be carried on without even the aid of a house. The 

 first step in the culture of the plant is to render the ground, 

 which should be friable and rich, perfectly free from weeds 

 and dry, if naturally moist. The seeds are then sown in 

 shallow drills about a foot apart. The rainy season must 

 be chosen for sowing, otherwise if the seed is deposited in 

 dry soil, it heats, corrupts, and is lost. The crop being kept 

 clear of weeds is fit for cutting in two or three months, and 

 this may be repeated in rainy seasons every six weeks. The 

 plants must not be allowed to come into flower, as the leaves 

 in that case become dry and hard, and the indigo produced is 

 10* 



