INDIGOFERA TINCTORIA. 



surrounded with a border of castor or san (hemp), more with the idea of one crop insur- 

 ing the other than with any hope of reaping the produce from both. 



A loam is preferred, but much of the cultivation is on the lightest possible sand, in 

 tracts where copious irrigation is possible from a canal. Manure is very seldom used, 

 but when possible indigo follows sugar-cane or cotton, and reaps some benefit from the 

 manure which was applied to these crops. 



Four ploughings are held advisable, but the land frequently receives no more than 

 one, especially in canal-irrigated districts, where a prodigal supply of water is often made 

 to take the place of good tillage. For jamowa indigo the ground must be watered before 

 ploughing, while asarJii fields are not ploughed until softened by the rains. 



For proper germination of the seeds it is necessary that the seed-bed be thoroughly 

 moist, and this accounts to some extent for the haste made in ploughing. The seed is 

 sown broad-cast at the rate of about 8 seers to the acre, and since it is essential that it 

 be not buried too deeply, it is merely harrowed in by the log clod-crusher or by a bush. 



The number of waterings which are given to jamoioa indigo between the date of 

 its sowing and the commencement of the rains varies witli the dryness of the air, being 

 as many as six in Cawnpore, two in Bareilly, and only one in Azamgarh. AsarJii indigo 

 requires no watering in a year of ordinary rainfall. 



It is essential that the crop be kept free from weeds, and two weedings are the least 

 that are given. 



The plant is ripe for cutting just before it flowers. It is reaped with sickles in 

 the ordinary way, and is carried to the factory, where the process of extracting the dye 

 at once commences. The essential parts of an indigo factory are (1), two sets of vats 

 one on a lower level than the other, the upper set being used for steeping the plant, and 

 the lower set for concentrating the dye matter ; (2), a boiler and furnace for boiling the 

 dye ; and (3), an apparatus for straining and pressing. The size of the steeping vat varies, 

 but it is usually large enough to contain from 50 to 100 maunds of plant. The plant 

 is packed into the vat, which is then filled with water, the plant being kept submerged 

 by some cross bars which are fitted across the vat above it. The time during which this 

 steeping continues varies according to the weather from 11 to 15 hours, being less in 

 muggy damp weather with the wind in the east, than when the air is dry with a west 

 wind. It is of great importance, however, that the steeping should be stopped at the 

 right moment ; if underdone, dye matter is lost, and if unduly prolonged, the quality of 

 the produce suffers. 



The steeping vat opens by a channel into the vat which corresponds with it in the 

 lower tier, and when the steeping is finished, a plug is drawn and the water drained off 

 into the lower vat, leaving the plant behind it, which can then be thrown aside. The 

 water is of a greenish colour, and is charged with a substance known as indican, which 

 fermentation has extracted from the plant leaves. In order to convert this substance into 

 indigotine, the basis of indigo dye, it is necessary to oxidize it, and the next process known 

 as "beating" has this for its object. Usually it is performed by 7 or 8 men who stand 

 in the vat and agitate the liquid either with their hands or with a rake-shaped paddle. As 

 the oxidation proceeds, dark blue particles of indigotine (known collectively as the fecula) 

 appear in the liquid, which changes in colour from green to blue. The process is con- 



