No. 3.] Indigo. 151 



harm, and any change of weather seems to clear them off. The 

 large green one sometimes attacks the khoontie indigo, and eats 

 away the lower leaves, and does some damage. But the small 

 reddish-brown caterpillar is the one that does most harm. My first 

 experience of these was in 1853. We had succeeded in getting a 

 splendid crop of young indigo, and I went into the head factory to 

 report a sixteen annas jummah (full crop) and invited my manager 

 to come and see it. He had to put off his visit for a day. However, 

 the next morning we visited the fields, when to my horror and 

 dismay the whole of my fine crop had disappeared, and the ground 

 swarmed with these reddish-brown creatures. We had had a late 

 cold weather rain and had plenty of moisture in the ground. So 

 we sowed again, and the young indigo came up thickly only to be 

 again destroyed by these caterpillars, However, we persevered 

 and eventually the pests disappeared, and we got a very good crop 

 and made a very fair season. Again in the years 1864 and 1865 

 we had very bad caterpillar years. The question was whether to 

 resow or to give the caterpillars a chance to disappear. We feared 

 that our moisture would be insufficient, so we resowed. This we 

 had to do once or twice, but eventually got a grand crop and a good 

 manufacturing season followed, In a later year I witnessed a bad 

 attack of these same reddish-brown caterpillars. This time the 

 crop did not disappear, but where the insects had attacked the plant, 

 the plant seemed to dry up and became brown, drying up into stuff 

 like snuff when touched. Resowings had to be made, but we made 

 a good season in the end. My experience is that this particular 

 kind of caterpillar only appears after a late cold weather rain. The 

 land being full of moisture becomes heated with a damp heat, and 

 this brings these voracious little animals into life. I have watched 

 them during the middle of the day when the west winds are blowing 

 as from a furnace. They then hide under small clods of earth, 

 coming out in the cool of the evening to feed on the indigo. I did 

 not notice h(jw long they lasted, but certainly over a week. I do 

 not consider, except for the extra seed which has to be bought and 

 the cost of labour in ploughing and resowing, that caterpillars are 

 especially dangerous to the indigo industry. I may further note 

 that during bad caterpillar years new lands will be quite free from 

 them. They are generally worst in old factory zerats " [fields]. 



In all, five planters replied to my series of questions, Messrs. M. J. 

 Wilson (who sent in the general report quoted above), F. Murray, 

 of Kurnoul Concern, Tirhut ; T. R. Filgate, of Burhoulee Concern, 

 Saran ; Kenneth Mackenzie, of Gokulnagar Concern, Purneah; 

 and R. N. Sealy, of Kinderpati Concern, Gorakhpur. It will be 



