148 INDIGO. 



hole, and is covered with a little earth. The sowing takes place in 

 soils that are moist but well drained, or in situations generally which 

 have no system of irrigation at the period of the first rains. The 

 seeds shoot in the course of the first week ; hoeing is performed in 

 the course of the month. The first cutting takes place when the 

 plant is coming into flower ; from fifiy to sixty days generally inter- 

 vene between the sowing and this cutting ; but the time necessary 

 for the development of the leaves depends of course upon the cli- 

 mate. In the neighborhood of Maracaibo, where the mean tempera- 

 ture is about 78° Fahr., the gathering does not take place before the 

 third month. The second cutting is performed from 45 to 50 days 

 after the first ; and in this way several successive crops are obtained, 

 until it is seen that the plant begins to degenerate. In good soils 

 the indigo will last for two years ; in soils of inferior quality the 

 crop is generally annual. 



The indigo harvest is immediately transported to tanks or large 

 rectangular reservoirs built of masonry, and disposed on different 

 levels, the superior reservoir or steeping tank being much larger 

 than the two others. In the valley d'Aragua, there are some which 

 are upwards of 20 feet long by 15 feet wide, and 20 inches in depth. 



The second, or mashing tank, is narrower and deeper than the for- 

 mer. The third reservoir, or depositing tank, receives the liquor 

 from the mashing tank, and in it the indigo subsides. In some manu- 

 factories the third tank is not used, the deposition taking place in the 

 mashing tank itself. 



The leaves, as the name implies, are thrown into the steeper, 

 covered with w^ater, and kept down by planks loaded with stones ; 

 fermentation soon begins, and is allowed to continue during about 

 eighteen hours ; and in the management of this first operation lies 

 much of the art of the indigo-maker. By continuing it too long 

 some portion of the coloring matter is destroyed ; by stopping it 

 prematurely, a quantity of indigo is left in the leaves. The fermen- 

 tation judged to be sufficiently advanced, the liquor is run off" into 

 the battery, and vigorously stirred until the grain is deposited. The 

 fluid is then either let into the subsider, or left in the battery, and 

 the deposition is complete at the end of about twenty hours ; the 

 supernatent fluid is drawn off", and the indigo paste is scooped out 

 and placed upon cloths to drain. When sufficiently firm, it is divided 

 into lumps, and these are set in the shade to dry. In the valley 

 d'Aragua it is estimated that with a good soil and careful manage- 

 ment, each hectare of surface will yield 280 lbs. of marketable indi- 

 go,* which is at the rate of about 112^- lbs. per English acre. 



In Carolina the cultivation of indigo appears to be much less pro- 

 ductive than in the equinoctial regions, and the produce is of inferior 

 quality. There they sow in drills in the commencement of the 

 rainy season which follows the vernal equinox, and the first crop is 

 gathered about the beginning of July ; the second is secured two 

 months afterwards, and when the autumn is mild, a third but insig* 



• Cadozzi, Resumen de la Geografia de Venezuela, p. 144. 



