INDIGOFERA TINCTORIA. 



45 



It is noticeable how small is tlie footing wliicli the plant has obtained in Rohilkhand, 

 and in Ondh its cultivation is still more rare, although the soil and climate of both 

 tracts are probably as well suited to its growth as those of the Eastern Districts, in which 

 the best indigo of the Province is produced. The indigo cultivation of the Benares 

 Division is conducted entirely with well or tank irrigation, and is a continuation of the 

 indigo tract of Behar, the most productive in India. West of Allahabad indigo follows 

 the canal; thus in the Agra Division the canal irrigated Districts of Etawah, Etah, 

 Mainpuri, and Farukhabad, have an area under indigo amounting respectively to 4*6, 

 2"3, 2*7 and 1'9 per cent, of their total cropped area, while the Districts of Muttra and 

 Agra, which until lately received no canal water, show only "3 and "9 per cent. Similarly 

 Oawnpore, the only canal irrigated District in the Allahabad Division, has 4'0 per cent, 

 of indigo cultivation, while Eatehpur its next door neighbour has only "3, and Allahabad 

 only "2 per cent. 



Indigo may be sown either in the spring or at the commencement of the rains. 

 In the first case it is called Jamowa or cliciUi, in the second asarhi. Jamoioa indigo is 

 ready for cutting in August, asarhi indigo a month later, but whereas land under the for- 

 mer is, as a rule, ploughed up immediately the crop is cut and prepared for a crop in the 

 succeeding rabi season, asarhi indigo is left in the ground till the following rains, when 

 it springs up again and yields what is known as a klmnti or ratoon crop. In the first 

 season after sowing the quality of jamoioa indigo is much superior to that of asarhi, but 

 asarhi indigo is said to yield the best crop from ratoons. The jamoioa system is com- 

 paratively new, and has only been adopted in the Azamgarh District since the last 40 

 years, but is the one commonly followed in the canal-irrigated Districts of the Upper 

 and Middle Doab. When indigo seed is to be produced the roots of jamoioa indigo are 

 not ploughed up after the plant has been cut, but they are left in the ground till Decem- 

 ber, by which time they will have sent up fresh fiower-bearing shoots and will yield a 

 crop of seed. The indigo planters of Behar prefer seed imported from these Provinces 

 to that locally grown, and in consequence an extensive trade in it has sprung up, the ex- 

 ports by rail from these Provinces to Bengal amounting in the last three years to 1,12,435 

 niaunds, 1,42,516 maunds, and 1,56,810 maunds, most of which is despatched from the 

 city of Cawnpore. The trade is principally in the hands of Calcutta brokers, who are un- 

 der contract to supply a certain number of factories with the seed they require, and hence 

 the price of indigo seed is liable to violent fluctuations, ranging from Es. 6 to Es. 40 per 

 maund, since a certain amount of seed must be bought whatever be its price, and should 

 the supply run short holders of seed can make their own terms. 



The jamoioa system of cultivation is by far the commonest in the Districts west 

 of Allahabad, and unless the roots are left for seed the land almost invariably bears a 

 crop in the succeeding rabi, and is thus twice cropped within the year. The outturn of 

 the rabi crop (wheat or barley) will not be above half what it would have been if grown 

 after a fallow in the rains, but it is only with indigo that this much can be obtained un- 

 less the land be manured ; the outturn of a rabi crop grown on unmanured land after 

 millet or maize being extremely small. 



It is most commonly grown alone, as the period of its growth does not coincide with 

 that of any other crop. Occasionally, however, it is mixed with ji/a'r or arhar, and is 



