bye Stuffs. 



300 



[April, 1912. 



successfully with the synthetic dye ; 

 manufacture had to be brought to 

 greater perfection ; four more years of 

 research work on my part were neces- 

 sary to attain this, and this work was 

 brought to a successful issue only last 

 year. Indigo dye exists in the leaves 

 and green parts of the plants in an inso- 

 luble form, and cannot be extracted by 

 simple maceration. The plant is cut 

 about six inches from the ground and 

 then fermented in large masonry tanks, 

 when by enzymic and bacterial action a 

 soluble form of the dye is obtained, 

 which, after further treatment, is then 

 converted into the indigo of commerce. 

 This is put on the market in a dry form, 

 generally in 3-inch cubes, and has to be 

 ground down again by the dyer into a 

 fine paste before he can use it in his dye- 

 ing vat. The Calcutta Englishman in 

 its issue of March 9th, 1911, summarizes 

 the work done as follows : — 



Three distinct points of progress to- 

 waids the rehabilitation of the natural 

 indigo industry have been achieved in 

 recent years, namely :— (1) The cultiv- 

 ation of a new and better yielding variety 

 of the indigo plant (Java-Natal indigo or 

 Indigofera arrecta). This gives a 50 per 

 cent- better yield than the plant former- 

 ly in cultivation. (2) Improvements in 

 manufacture by scientific methods. 

 These give promise of an increased out- 

 turn of dye, nearly twice as much as the 

 ordinary manufacturing process will 

 yield. (3) The marketing of the dye in 

 the form of paste, which the dyers have 

 declared to be absolutely essential if 

 they are to use natural indigo. These 

 are obviously notable advances, and, in 

 an address recently delivered before the 

 Behar Planters' Association, Baron 

 Schrottky produced the evidence of 

 dyers and planters to show that the 

 natural dye can now ba produced at a 

 price and in a form which makes it 

 possible to undersell the synthetic 

 product in the English market. 



The great increase in the yield of dye 

 which has been obtained by the latest 

 developments of the industry will be 

 more fully realised by comparing a 



maximum outturn of | lb. of dry dye 

 from 100 lbs. of green plant in 1887, which 

 was then spoken of as " marvellous," 

 with the f lb. of dry dye which 100 lbs. 

 of the green plant can be made to yield 

 now. But quite as important has been 

 the advance made in marketing the dye 

 in the more convenient form of a paste 

 of such qualities and of such an ato- 

 mically fine division of the dye, that- 

 speaking from practical experience— as 

 much yarn can be dyed a certain shade 

 with one lb. of Indigotine in the stand- 

 ard natural indigo paste, as can be 

 dyed with 1| lb. of Indigotine in the 

 synthetic dye. We arrive now at 

 the -question of how this development 

 of the indigo industry affects Ceylon, 

 where it has never been considered pro- 

 fitable to grow the plant, even at the 

 flood tide of prosperity in that industry. 

 In those days the yearly outlay of an 

 indigo factory — for supervision, rent of 

 land, cultivation, manufacture, and the 

 marketing of the dye— used to be in 

 Behar about Rs-36 per acre, and the 

 outturn was 24 lb. of the dye per acre, 

 selling at Rs. 3 per lb. This gave a cent, 

 percent, profit. Cheapness of labour and 

 cheapness of land were then the essential 

 elements in the profitable cultivation of 

 indigo, and on this basis Ceylon could 

 not hope to compete with India. But 

 now these items are not of such import- 

 ance, since the industry has developed 

 on lines which make it necessary to 

 treble the outlay, so that the cost of 

 labour and land is now proportionately 

 much smaller. It is this change which 

 enables Ceylon planters to take up 

 indigo cultivation with every chance of 

 success and profit. The increased out- 

 lay is chiefly due to the cost of scientific 

 methods of manufacture, and the very 

 large additional outturn of dye obtained 

 thereby has reduced the cost of natural 

 indigo of average quality (60 per cent, 

 indigotine) to Is. per lb. ; whereas the 

 synthetic dye costs Is. 6d. to manu- 

 facture, and is sold at present at 8d. per 

 lb. of 20 per cent, paste, equal to 2s. per 

 lb. of 60 per cent, indigotine, The way 



