48 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



supply seed. Seed is never obtained locally ; the entire amount which 

 reaches Behar is supplied by contract to the various "concerns," chiefly 

 by native dealers, who are at liberty to purchase where and how they 

 please. Further comment on such a system of seed supply is unnecessary, 

 and it was obvious at the outset that an investigation into this question 

 could hardly fail, from an economic standpoint, to repay the expenditure 

 of labour. This opinion has been fully justified, but it is not the 

 economic side of the question with which this paper deals. It is a marked 

 interrelation between the type of plant and the climatic conditions of the 

 locality in which that plant is grown — brought to light by this inquiry — 

 which forms the subject of the present communication. 



The method adopted for this inquiry, which has extended over a period 

 of more than two years, was as follows : — 



Fig. 5. 



Sukkuii Plant. Multan Plant. 



During the first year, seed was obtained from as many localities as 

 were at that time known to supply seed to the markets (Delhi and Cawn- 

 pur), and was cultivated in Behar. Towards the end of the season a tour 

 was made through the seed-producing areas ; growers and middle men 

 (dealers) interviewed at the various places visited ; crops were inspected 

 and a sample of seed was taken from each field visited. These samples 

 were cultivated during the second season, and in this way the evidence 

 obtained during the first, was controlled and examined in greater detail 

 during the second, season. 



A casual inspection of any field of indigo in Behar at a time when the 

 plant had reached a height of one or two feet had made it evident that 

 there were at least two very marked types of plant ; and, as a result of 

 the cultivation of seed "raised in known localities, it became I at once 

 apparent whence this variation arose. Figs. 11 and 13 bring out most 



