74 REMINISCENCES OF 



character of the news as good or bad ; and as the 

 houses were generally in sight one of the other, the 

 news was quickly transmitted through the neigh- 

 borhood. 



The culture of the indigo plant was the principal 

 occupation of the planters ; and its manufacture, or 

 the process of extracting the dye, involved much 

 risk and demanded, during the whole period of the 

 process (the '' making season " as it used to be 

 called), not only skill, but unremitting attention. I 

 can well remember how often, in the process of 

 what was called '' beating," the liquor was taken up 

 in a plate and anxiously examined in the rays of the 

 sun, in order to ascertain whether all the particles 

 of dye were separated ; for, if not, the result would 

 be a failure ; the bright true-blue color would not 

 be obtained, and the value of the drug would be im- 

 paired. There were, as might be expected, many 

 grades of professional reputation among the plant- 

 ers. I have often heard it said that, during the 

 manufacturing season, Mr. Peter Sinkler would be 

 three weeks without seeing his wife, though he slept 

 every night in his bed. He would come home late 

 at night, when she was asleep, and would return to 

 the scene of his professional labors before she awoke 

 in the early morning. 



The process of culture and the manufacture, once 

 so important to the people of this State, is now for- 

 gotten ; even Drayton, whose '' View of Carolina " 



