202 



Cultivation and Manufacture of Indigo, 



[July 



substance, and fit food only for the devil. Soon after this its import- 

 ance came to be understood, and the cultivation of the plants which 

 yield it was introduced into the West Indies, and into Mexico, and fol- 

 lowed up with such success, that the market of Europe was for a long 

 time principally supplied ixom these countries. A large proportion was 

 furnished by Jamaica, and the remains of Indigo works may now be 

 met with in different parts of the country. In 1672, according to 

 Edwards, there were 60 Indigo works, producing 50,000 lbs, annually. 

 A tax, however, of 3*. Qd. per lb. having been imposed by the British 

 parliament, the cultivation was soon after, in a great measure, aban- 

 doned ; and although the duty was soon after removed, and a bounty of 

 sixpence per lb. offered, if imported directly into Great Britain, still it 

 never again became general, and at present, I am not aware that it is 

 produced in any quantity, or that there is a single Indigo work, deserv- 

 ing the name, in the Island. In the East Indies, on the contrary, the 

 cultivation of late years has rapidly increased, so as to supply 3-4ths 

 of the Indigo for the European market. 



" It is to be hoped, as few articles give a more profitable return for 

 the capital embarked, that its cultivation among us may be resumed, 

 especially as, from the improvements in the manufacture, the unhealthy 

 fermenting process, which was found so fatal to the labourers employ- 

 ed, may now be dispensed with. An attempt was made, some years 

 ago, by the late Mr. Robert Gray, of St. George's, to introduce the cul- 

 tivation on his own property in that parish ; but he did not succeed, 

 owing to the excessive rains which fall in that district during almost 

 every period of the year. The like ill success, and from a similar 

 cause, has attended an attempt lately made on Greenwich Hill estate, 

 in Manchioneal. The result would be different were a proper choice 

 of climate and soil observed, such as the plains of Vere or Liguanea, 

 where the rains are occasional, and seldom heavy, and the soil light 

 and open. 



" The medicinal uses of the Indigo are few. A decoction of the 

 root, used as a lotion, effectually destroys vermin, and is very generally 

 employed for that purpose in the country. The juice of the young 

 branches, mixed with honey, is recommended as an application for 

 aphthae of the mouth in children : and the Indigo, in pow^der, sprinkled 

 over foul ulcers, is said to cleanse them. The disease in poultry, known 

 by the name yaws,\^ cured by the application of a solution of Indigo 

 by means of a rag."— Zonrfon awc^ Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine 

 and Journal of Science-No. 7'k-March 1838. pp. 263 -268. 



