360 



INDIGO. 



sidency, and 101,000 acres under cliayroot and other dye stuffs, chiefly 

 in Bellary and Tanjore. In July, 1876, there were in Madras only 

 55,367 acres under indigo assessed, showing a decrease of 35,854 

 acres compared with the same period of the previous year. 



The yield of indigo in the districts of Nuddea, Jessore, and Moor- 

 shedabad during the official year 1875-76 was below the average. In 

 1873-74 the crop amounted to 5124 maunds in Jessore, 5171 maunds 

 in Nuddea, and 3,003 maunds in Moorshedabad, while in the last year 

 it was 3000, 4000, and 3600 maunds in the respective districts. In 

 the 24 Pergunnahs district a small cultivation has been revived in 

 the Baraset sub-division, which was once a principal seat of the 

 indigo industry. The present system is described as a perfectly 

 voluntary one, in which the cultivators do not even take an advance 

 for seed, but sow of their own accord. The co-operative system of 

 cultivating indigo, which was introduced by some native landowners 

 in the Nuddea district, is not gaining ground, and the past season has 

 injured its popularity. 



Indigo cultivation has increased in Behar, while its area has 

 diminished in Bengal. In Maldah, Moorshedabad and Kajsbahe the 

 constant changes in the Eiver Ganges supply ample alluvial soil, well 

 adapted for indigo crops. In Maldah alone there are twenty working 

 factories, turning out 2,000 maunds. But one-half the exported pro- 

 duce is from Behar, and almost entirely from the districts on the 

 north side of the Ganges, Tirhoot, Chumparun, and Sarun. 



In 1872-73 the export of indigo from Calcutta amounted to 162,860 

 maunds, worth 2,704,408Z. 



The system on which indigo is growTi is nearly uniform in all the 

 districts to the north of the Ganges, but is quite different from that 

 carried on in those to the south of the river. 



In the northern districts of Tirhoot, Chumparun, and Sarun, the 

 dye is cultivated in villages let to the planter by the zemindars, and 

 is either assamiioar or niz. Under the former system, when the lease 

 is comj^leted, the ryots attend the' factory and execute agreements to 

 cultivate a specified portion of their uplands in indigo. The common 

 proportion agreed upon is two or three cotthas (of 720 square feet) 

 per beegah of upland or bheel, though in some few factories the pro- 

 portion demanded is larger, amounting to five or six cotthas, which it 

 appears was the rate prevailing in Chumparun and Sarun, before the 

 indigo difficulties in 1867. The agreement is generally for the same 

 term as the lease. At the time of executing it, an advance is given, 

 which remains unpaid without interest till the end of the term, and 

 during each year the price agreed on to be paid for the cultivation 

 is given in advance at the beginning of the year. 



The sum paid varies according to whether it includes the rent of 

 the land or not, and also according to the size of the beegah. The 

 average rate in Tirhoot, where the beegah is about 4225 square yards, 

 is from Es. 8-8 to Es. 9, inclusive of rent, and in Sarun, where the 

 beegah is the same as in Tirhoot, it is from Es. 7 to Es. 9. In 

 Chumparun where the beegah averages 7225 square yards, the usual 

 rate is now about Es. 15, but up to the last few years Es. 12 was 

 generally paid. In all cases lands for indigo are assessed much below 

 the average rent paid for other lands of similar quality. 



