THE AORICULT 



used as a weak liquid manure for the 

 lands adjoining the factory. This seat 

 water, which when stale has a very un- 

 pleasant odour, is highly valued by the 

 planter for its fertilising properties ; it 

 contains, however, merely a trace of am- 

 monia and some potash salts, and it ap- 

 pears doubtful whether in some cases it 

 really re]-.ays the expenses which are 

 incurred in pumping it on to the land. 



Boiling. 



All the indigo magna (mahl) obtained 

 from one day's working , is conveyed by 

 channels or other means into a well 

 (mahl jeeri), from whence it is pumped 

 into the boilers, which usually have an 

 inch or two of water placed in them 

 beforehand. These boilers are simply 

 square sheet-iron tanks which are either 

 heated by direct fire or steam-heat. Direct 

 fire is usually a wasteful method, as the 

 furnaces are badly constructed, only a 

 small portion of the bottom of the boiler 

 being exposed to the action of the fire ; a 

 volume of cold air is admitted, much 

 larger than is necessary for the perfect 

 combustion of the fuel ; and unless 

 vigorous stirring is maintained there is a 

 danger of the indigo sticking and burning 

 on the hot boiler-plates. Steam-heating 

 should be less expensive, as the steam is 

 usually derived from a well constructed 

 engine-boiler, the boiling is easily regu- 

 lated, and there is no necessity for con- 

 stant Stirling, there being no danger of 

 burning the indigo. 



There are various views held by plan- 

 ters as to how long the indigo should be 

 boiled, some merely raising it to the boil- 

 ing point and then running it on to the 

 filtering table, and a few boiling as long 

 as half an hour. The writer believes that 

 the object in view, which is the destruc- 

 tion of ferment and the granulation of 

 the particles of indigo, would be accom- 

 plished best by allowing steam to blow 

 into the liquid for ten minutes after the 

 boiling point is reached. If by any care- 

 lessness the indigo has been burnt, the 

 finished article will be characterised by a 

 dar*k, dull colour, which is not saleable at 

 a good price. 



Filtering. 

 The boiling indigo is run directly to 

 the filtering tables, which are constructed 

 with a flooring and sides of slats of wood, 

 the area being about 15 by eight feet, and 



URAL JOURNAL. 757 



the sides are sloped out some three feet 

 high. This table, which is best described 

 as a shallow box of slats of wood, is 

 covered with a large sheet of a special 

 kind of canvas, which is moistened and 

 well pressed down so as to fit closely 

 against the bottom and sides of the table. 

 All being ready the boiling indigo is run 

 on, and almost immediately the water 

 commences to pass through clear. In a 

 few hours' time the indigo remains be- 

 hind as a thick paste, covering the can- 

 vas to a depth of an inch or two. The 

 sheet is then drawn to one end of the 

 table so as to collect the paste together in 

 one place as if in a bag so as to cause 

 more of the water to be expelled. Re- 

 boiling the indigo from the table with a 

 large quantity of clear water, repeated 

 one or more times, has been found by the 

 writer to materially improve the quality 

 of thw colour obtained. 



Pressing. 

 The thiu paste of indigo from the filter- 

 ing table is put into wooden press-boxes 

 lined with stout canvas ! such a quantity 

 is put in that the resulting slab of pressed 

 indigo will be about three inches thick. 

 Some ten or twelve inches depth of the 

 indigo paste may be required to obtain 

 this result. The press-boxes are placed 

 in a kind of rough screw-press of which 

 there are a number in the press-house. 

 The screw of the press is moved by coolies 

 armed with a long bar, in the middle of 

 which is a square hole to fit the top of the 

 screw, or the nut, as the case may be. 

 The pressure requires to be very carefully 

 applied at first, or the canvas may be 

 burnt, or the indigo forced out through 

 the openings. Towards the end the 

 pressure must be very strong to injure 

 a firm and sound cake. Only one gang 

 of coolies go from press to press turning 

 the screws of each in succession, the 

 whole operation requiring about twelve 

 hours. The press-boxes when opened, if 

 all has gone on well, should contain a 

 solid, firm slab of indigo, the usual size of 

 which slab being such as to give when 

 cut up about seventy cakes of indigo 

 three inches square. 



{Tu be continued). 



'1 hirty two .Shorlh jrn bulls have been boughi; 

 in England by the Rus.-ican Governmeut and 

 sold at half price to the cattle breeders of the 

 Don, Kouban and Terek steppes to improve 

 their cattle. 



