INDlGOrERA TINCTORIA. 



" disputes with tho Natives, wliicli the latter were careful to bring to the notice of the Magistrate. The 

 " prohibitory rule under which Mr. Crommelia had been opposed did not apply to persons born in India, and 

 " soon after the establishment of his concern others were set agoing in various places. In 1808 Mr. D. O. 

 " Forgusson, acting on behalf of a Major Stevenson, erected a factory at Nizamabad, and another, now fallen 

 "completely to ruin, was established at Imilia, which though professedly the property of a native, was in 1811 

 " managed by an European of the name of O'Dell. And as time went on, more small factories were erected 

 "at various places. In 1812 Mr. Fergusson's factories passed into the hands of Mr. J. Sturmes. This 

 " gentleman carried on the concern vigorously, and added to it another branch factory. He also engaged 

 "with sugar and cloth trades, and by mortgage, purchase and farm held possession of a number of landed 

 "estates. After his death in 1821, his indigo concern and estates were managed for a number of years by 

 "his executors. In 1829 the indigo concern and part of the estate were sold, the former being purchased by 

 " Mr. H. E. Hunter. Meantime Mr. Crommelin's factories had changed hands, some being held by persons 

 " resident in the district, others by persons resident in Calcutta or elsewhere who managed them through 

 "agents. For several years after 1829 Mr. Hunter, who in addition to the Nizamabad concern, had taken 

 "over some of the factories erected by Mr. Crommelin and others, and Mr. J. H. Stonehouse, who held the 

 " Dohrighat concern, were the chief independent Europeans in the district. They traded largely in sugar 

 "and other native produce in addition to indigo, and Mr. Hunter was also in possession of a good deal of 

 "landed property. He died at Nizamabad in 1845, and his largo indigo concern was broken up. Mr. 

 " Stonehouse also had been unfortunate in business, and had to relinq^uish most of his factories, but he con- 

 " tinued to reside in the district, holding a small factory which he built at Rajapatti in pargana Nizamabad 

 " till 1857. At the time of the mutinies there were at least nine concerns whose head quarters were in the 

 "district. The chief of these was the Dohrighat concern held by Mr. E. P. Venables. Previous to the 

 " mutinies, and for some years after them, the production of indigo remained chiefly in European and Eurasian 

 "hands. The only native who seems to have held factories before the mutinies was Basu Darzi, who having 

 " originally been Mr. Hunter's tailor, and afterwards his chief manager, had acquired a good deal of money, 

 "and on Mr. Hunter's death purchased six of his factories. But about 12 or 15 years ago natives began to 

 "take an interest in the trade, and the comparatively high prices of 1864 and the following years brought 

 " about among them a rage for factory building. Numbers of new native factories sprang up. Of 415 factories 

 "now standing in the district, 323 have been built during the last 14 years. At the present time only 29 

 "factories, with 115 pairs of vats, are the property of, or held by, Europeans and Eurasians. The rest (386 

 " factories, with 607 pairs of vats) are the property of, or held by. Natives." 



Tlie total area under indigo in the N.-W. Provinces and Oudli may now be put at 

 2,89,000 acres. Some details concerning the number and size of the factories in work are 

 given at the end of this notice, but it may be mentioned here that one of the principal 

 obstacles to the increase of indigo production is the great prejudice which exists against 

 it in many parts of the country, based either on semi-religious objections to growing 

 the plant, or on a dislike to the relations between cultivator and factory to which it leads, 

 and which will be noticed more fally further on. 



The percentage of the area under indigo to the total cropped area and to that crop- 

 ped in the kharif season in each temporarily settled Division of the N.-W. Provinces 

 is shown below : — 





Meernt 

 Division. 



Roliilkhand 

 Division. 



Agra 

 Division. 



Allahabad 

 Division, 



excluding 

 Jaunpur 

 District. 



Benares 

 Division, 

 including 

 Basti and 

 Goraklipur 

 Districts 

 only. 



Jhansi 

 Division. 



Kumaua 

 Division, 

 including 

 Tarai 

 District 

 only. 



Percentage of area under incliijo — 

















to total kharif crop area, 



4-2 



•1 



37 



1-7 



•8 







to total crop area. 



2'0 





2-0 



•9 



•4 







