THE AG HI CULT URAL JOURNAL. 



principal reason of failure was the fre- 

 quent \ariationsof temperature, which so 

 affected the process of fermentation that 

 it was impossible to get an even quality 

 or yield, each day's produce varying in 

 colour and yield. Since Mr. Van 

 Prehn's experiment, little or no attempt 

 has been made as regards the cultivation 

 or manipulation of Indigo. 



A few years ago one of my coolies 

 remarked to me that the white people 

 only planted tea and sugar. " Indigo " 

 grows wild," he said, " all over the 

 country. In my country large sums are 

 expended in its cultivation ; here it 

 grows wild, and yst you do not make 

 Indigo." On questioning the man, I 

 found that he had worked in an Indigo 

 factory in India, so I decided to make 

 use of his knowledge, and to experiment 

 with the wild Indigo. I used a 400 

 gallon copper clarifier as a steeping vat. I 

 found that this would hold 400 lbs. of 

 the plant, and would be large enough for 

 the purposes of experiment. Four hun- 

 dred lbs. of Indigo were placed in this 

 vat, and compressed and weighted with 

 ^tones ; the water was then run in until 

 within six inches of the brim. Within a 

 few hours fermentation set in. As neither 

 the Indian or I knew how long this 

 should last, we had to carefully watch 

 and guess when to run off the liquor. 

 After a considerable time, and with many 

 failures, I ascertained that the proper 

 pitch of fermentation took place in about 

 12 hours. This varied almost every day, 

 and some days 20 hours' steeping was 

 necessary to extract the indigotine from 

 I he plant. The liquor at this stage had a 

 slight greenish tinge, but, when examined 

 in the light, the liquor was a light straw 

 colour. The next process was to separate 

 the dye from the water. This was done 

 by heating and agitating the water with 

 wooden paddles. After five hours' beat- 

 ir g, small flake grains could be discerned 

 in the water. The liquor was allowed to 

 rest and the grains to settle. The water 

 was then drawn off until only a blue 

 solution or sediment remained. The blue 

 sediment was then boiled to stop fermen- 

 tation, and then run into a tray covered 

 with fine calico. The water drained 

 through the calico and left the dye in a 

 thickish paste. This was then put into a 

 press, and as much water extracted as 



possible. "When the paste was solid 

 enough to cut, it was cut into squares and 

 placed in the shade to dry. It usually 

 took about six weeks before these cakes 

 were thoroughly dry. During drying 

 the squares became covered with a white 

 mould which could be brushed off when 

 quite dry. 



I made about GO samples— some good, 

 some bad. Ten of these samples I sent 

 to Europe for report. The report was 

 highly satisfactory, and the values placed 

 on the various samples ranged from lOd. 

 to 3s. 8d. per lb. Encouraged by this re- 

 port, I decided to erect a small factory, 

 and give the thing a fair trial. I planted 

 20 acres of Indigo, but, unfortunately, 

 when this was 10 days old, a swarm of 

 locusts settled on the field and destroyed 

 the whole crop. I did not continue the 

 venture. I have since ascertained that it 

 is only in the earliest stages that locusts 

 or any other insects eat Indigo. I planted 

 a small plot in October, I'JOO. The fol- 

 lowing April this had reached eight feet 

 in height. As it did not seed I cut it 

 down in July. It is at present six 

 feet high and just flowering. Indigo 

 seed pods become brown in April, and 

 the seed is then fit for collection. For 

 cultivation of Indigo, the ground should 

 be brought to as fine'a tilth as possible ; 

 the seed should be sown in rows nine 

 inches apart, and about three inches in 

 the rows. Eight lbs. of seed will plant 

 an acre. The seed germinates, and is 

 above the ground in six days. The young 

 plant is very delicate for five or six 

 weeks. A hot wind or heavy rain will 

 destroy the whole field. The land should 

 be kept clean of weeds, and run through 

 twice in the first six weeks. After this 

 no weeds will grow, as the plant will 

 have grown sufficiently to cover the land. 



In five mouths the plant flowers, and 

 it is in this stage that it should be cut and 

 the indigotine extracted. A ratoon crop 

 can be reaped in about four or five 

 months. Indigo tristis when once es- 

 tablished is very hardy, and I believe as 

 many as ten cuttings can be obtained from 

 one planting. I have plants in my 

 garden which have been growing for ac 

 least six years. 



The wild Indigo is found on any soil ; 

 but does not grow luxuriantly except in 

 rich land. 



