18 



the relatively higher pri6$& "paid %}* "Japan and the Levant for 

 Cormandel indigo of which they have now become principal 

 buyers. The few Java planters of indigo who used to send 

 their produce here, have now completely given up the cultiva- 

 tion of indigo, which no longer paid, for the cultivation of 

 tobacco and sugar. Imports at Marseilles from Bengal have 

 almost ■ completely ceased, because, in the first instance, con- 

 sumers buy from the growers direct more than they used to, 

 small dyers receiving one or two cases direct from Calcutta 

 during the season of public sales in that town, and lastly 

 because the Havre Market now almost monopolised Bengal 

 indigo, on which quality term sales are based. 



The above-mentioned figures refer solely to indigo actually 

 sold on the Marseilles market. Lastly, German competition in 

 artificial indigo has already decreased the demand for natural 

 indigo at least 10 per cent, at the close of the first year's 

 operations of the German manufacturers in France. This pro- 

 portion is bound to increase with the output of artificial indigo. 

 The artificial dye already regulates prices. The small crops of 

 last year would have justified a rise in the prices of natural 

 indigo, but owing to the artificial produce put on the market, 

 this has not taken place. 



Artificial Indigo. — The researches of German chemists, with 

 unlimited means at their disposal for that purpose, begun in 

 1865 by Her Yon Bayer, resulted in 1890 in the chemical pro- 

 duction, at commercial prices, of a dye having nearly all the 

 qualities of Indian indigo, the substance obtained being chemic- 

 ally similar to that produced by the indigo plant. In 1897 

 Herr Heuman succeeded in producing this dye to which the 

 name of " artificial " or " synthetic indigo " was given, from a 

 cheap chemical substance of unlimited supply, napthaline, by 

 an easy process. One thing only appears wanting to make this 

 dye perfect, it is not yet impervious to chlorine. But science 

 as practised in Germany, with such eminently practical results, 

 is expected before long to cope with this last remaining 

 difficulty. 



Two German firms are now operating in France in the Lyons 

 district. The first to start was the Bedische Anilin und Soda 

 Fabrik of Ludwigs-haven-am-Rhein, holder of the first patent. 

 They established a branch house at Neuvil-sur-Saone, near 

 Lyons, where the dye has been manufactured for two years for 

 local consumption. Another German firm who have patented 

 another process, the " Farbwerke " formals ; Lucius and 

 Bruming, of Hoechstam-Main, have been selling their artificial 



