324 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



high priced as eleven shillings per pound. Accord- 

 ing- to both Edwards and Stedman 300 pounds are 

 produced on ordinary land, and the labour of four 

 persons is required for the cultivation of five acres, 

 and the subsequent preparation of the produce. 



The large returns consequent on favourable crops, 

 and the high prices of the home market for a few 

 successive years, lead to the belief that the profits 

 will always be thus excessive; and although the fre- 

 quent and disastrous casualties which follow these 

 periods of prosperity should excite doubts as to the 

 realization of all the extravagant expectations which 

 are so sanguinely indulged, yet the confidence which 

 each person has in his own peculiar " luck," or supe- 

 rior management, too readily induces him to become 

 a participator in the cares and hopes of an indigo 

 factory. 



It might be supposed that establishments thus 

 superintended by persons who are deeply interested 

 in their success, would be conducted in the best 

 possible manner ; while improvements would be con- 

 tinually suggesting themselves, by which favourable 

 results might be attained with greater certainty. 

 Surprise must therefore be excited when we find that 

 very little scientific knowledge is engaged in the pur- 

 suit, and that the whole is arranged and conducted 

 by means at variance with philosophical principles, a 

 due attention to which might often produce totally 

 different results. 



Until within the last few years, since the appoint- 

 ment of Lord William Bentinck as Governor-General 

 of India, Europeans were not allowed to take the 

 land in their own hands for agricultural purposes, 

 and they were therefore of necessity dependent on 

 native industry for the produce of the soil. The cul- 

 tivation of indigo was thus left to the care of the 

 indolent and prejudiced Hindoo, who from age to age 



