376 



SAFFLOWER. 



yellow colouring matter, a man in the trough treads the sack, and 

 subjects every part to the action of the water. When this flows 

 without receiving any yellow tinge in its passage, the washing is dis- 

 continued, and the safflower, if not wanted for immediate use, is made 

 into cakes ; these are known in commerce under the name of stripped 

 safflower. It is principally used for dyeing silk, producing poppy- 

 red, bright orange, cherry, rose or flesh colour, according to the 

 alternates employed in combination. These are alum, potash, tartaric 

 acid, or sulphuric acid. 



The cultivation of the safflower, known as Coosumban in Bengal, is 

 receiving attention at the hands of the local government. The 

 prosperity of Bengal, though it mainly depends upon the jute trade, 

 is in some measure attributable to the demand for safflower. The 

 principal Dacca dealers report the total outturn of safflower at from 

 15,000 to 16,500 maunds ; of which about 11,000 or 12,000 maunds 

 are produced in the Dacca district. The remainder is chiefly from 

 Mymensingh, Tipperah, and Furreedpore. Taking the average price 

 of the dye at Es.60 per maund, the value of the export from Dacca 

 would be from nine to ten lacs of rupees, 90,000 to 100,000Z.. The 

 cultivation is said to be largely extending. 



Safflower is grown, but to a limited extent, in Bengal, and does 

 not grow promiscuously all over the district. It is cultivated mostly 

 in the tract of country between the Ganges and the DhuUeseray. 

 Six seers of seeds are required to sow one beegah of land, which 

 under favourable conditions will yield about ten seers of flower. The 

 time for sowing is October and November, and the plucking com- 

 mences in March and April, when the petals of the flower assume a 

 deep orange colour. After being kept saturated in water for one 

 night the flowers are trodden upon by the ryots the next morning. 

 This is repeated for a few days until the impurities are drained off, 

 and the pulpy substance is then divided into cakes and dried in the 

 sun. This process of dividing them into small portions is done by 

 women, who are occupied by it till a late hour of the night. It is a 

 most profitable source of industry, for, besides the sale of the flowers, 

 the returns from which are very handsome considering the trouble 

 and outlay expended on it, a certain kind of oil is pressed out of the 

 seeds which answers remarkably well for culinary as well as other 

 domestic purposes. The seeds are also consumed by the natives when 

 cooked in milk and sugar. As potash forms the preponderating 

 element in the leaves and stalks of the plant, its ashes are used as a 

 substitute for soap by the common people. During the close of the 

 last century the demand for safflower in the country itself was so 

 great that not an ounce was exported, but in the year 1800, a reaction 

 set in, and there was a large shipment. The greatest quantity then 

 exported was in 1824-25, when about 8500 maunds passed the Calcutta 

 Custom-house, valued at nearly three lacs of rupees. The export 

 has somewhat fallen off of late years, owing both to the decrease in 

 the produce of the plants and to the adulteration carried on by the 

 natives in its manufacture. When in a pure state it ranked next to 

 China safflower in European markets. The former yields two kinds 

 of colour, the yellow and the red. According to a reliable authority 



