February i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
S65 
The indigo ought to be steeped in water, at least 
the temperature of the plant when it arrives at the 
vat. This prevents it being chilled, which checks fer- 
mentation. 
The only change necessary to effect the advantage 
of being able to heat in the same vat we steep in, is 
fitting the steepiug vat with a vent similar to the 
vent in the beating vat, so that the steeping vat can 
be used as the beating vat for the liquor. When the 
cases containing the plant which has been steeped in 
it have been removed, the cost will bo that of the 
vent and the setiiug of it in the wall. The beating 
vat does not require any change. 
My estimate of £20 per vat for this and the cases 
described will leave a margin that will pay for the 
charges I propose, namely, that of the mal boilers 
and table, or nearly so. 
Steeping the plant in the cases I employ for so 
many purposes in addition to those named, is that 
the ceete can bo sent without removal or loss in the 
return carts to the fields, so that the nuisance of the 
rerlr heap at the vat is avoided The plant cannot 
be equally steeped without the cases. If the plant is 
over-steeped, the colour is injured, and if not suffi- 
ciently steeped there will be a loss of colouring 
matter; in either case one or other is inevitable and 
inflicts a loss to the factory which under tho present 
system is unavoidable. 
Another advantage in my plan is that at least the 
same quantity of the colour-producing parts of the 
plant can be steeped in about one-third tho depth 
of water required by the present systom. This great 
reduction in the depth of the liquor to be beaten 
ensures its being better oxidised than when a greater 
body of liquor has to be acted upon ; and when the 
prejudice to the use of chemicals ceases, it will be 
an enormous saving of such chemicals, whether used 
in tho steeping or beating vats. 
The boiling o!' indigo is the preserving of it, as is 
tho boiling of fruit, &c., and if tho invariable rules 
for cookery, i.e., to skim off the scum or foreign 
matter which is thrown to tho surface by tho action 
of heat is not observed, tho colour and purity of the 
substance so neglected must be deteriorated. There 
is uo loss of colouring matter attending the skim- 
ming, as the stuff thus removed can be put in the 
mjfa or elsewhere. 
The system ot the boiling of indigo is thus des- 
cribed by the late Mr. Cosserat, of the Burhogah 
factory: — "The scum is thrown back into the body 
of the staff, by the application of cold water on to 
the boiling liquid, when the process is suppose. 1 to 
have been finished!! In fact, after taking the trouble 
to separate the dirt from the mal by boiling and 
bringing it to the surface, we take the further trouble 
to mix it up again by precipitation, after boiling, 
instead of removing it whilst we can bv skimming." 
f have a small sample of cloth dyed by Messrs. 
Wilkinson & Oo., indigo refiners, &c., of Church, 
near Accriugton, from the stuff I took from the 
waste water from the table. It is a fine sorrel green 
and much admired. It is a fast colour, having 
been dyed in 1882, Having my boilers and tablo, 
there will not ho any trouble or expense in re- 
covering this stuff in considerable quantities from 
tho tablo or mal boilers, it having been boiled. 
Mr. Wilkinson wrote to mo on tie- Itith of October 
1882 :— 
'• I have made a trial of the stuff you seut to mo in 
a small bottle. I find it is composed of the very mater- 
ials which spoil the pure colour of indigo, &c. I ven- 
ture to my if you can take out this scum, you will, 
to a certaiuty, produce a tar purer indigo 
blue," &c. 
And, later on, Mr: Wilkinson wrote : — 
" I see no reason why the result you are aiming nt 
should uot meet with complete success. It' it dors, 
we shall then get far purer indigo, which would be 
a saving to tho consumer twofold — first in carriage ; 
second, in having to separate and taking it out 
afterward*," &e. 
The lnt « Mr. CfuMBUt. writing to mo OD the subject, 
•aid —"Tho dirt you found ou the mat table water 
can only be separated from the mass by boiling 
long kept up, &c. If such be the case, the thing is 
to arrest this dirt whilst it is floating about in the 
water, before it has time to settle on tho fecula 
on the table. The question is how this can best 
be effected," &c. 
My plan for pressing indigo without sheets, ex- 
cept a . top and bottom strainers, which I practis- 
ed at Khau Mirzapore throughout the season of 
1881, without failure or trouble (except from tho bad 
workmanship and material of the presses), the security 
against the breaking of the blocks, and being able to 
know by the trial plug set in the side of the frame 
or cylinder is thoroughly pressed throughout to the 
centre without having to take the pressure off, and 
the enconomy of labour (by the introduction of my 
antifriction conical rollers) in tho actual pressing — as 
any two coolies can complete this part of the press- 
house work, which at present takes eight or ten at 
a small factory — the saving of the cost of sheeting 
and the loss of indigo in various ways connected with 
sheets, &e. , must be considerable. 
I had three pressings in a day of twelve hours from 
one press (an hydraulic press), which was constantly 
getting out of order. Were it not for this, and their 
oost, they would answer. AVhen presses are made 
such as I have described, in which the pressing can 
be completed with ease in five hours, nt from £50 
each, according to size, which they should be made 
for, if ordered in numbers of not less than six, their 
cost may not be prohibitory. 
Mr. Oosserat was so pleased with one of my antifric- 
tion roller presses, that he had another made at 
Messrs- S. Owens & Co., Whitefriars Street, in 1882, 
when I sent one of an improved make to Khan 
Mirzapore, where I hear it is highly approved of. 
Mr. Cosserat wrote to me respecting these presses, 
which have now vastly improved: — 
" I will, however, briefly mention two good points — 1st, 
the facility with which a block of indigo can be cut into 
cakes without the terrible amouut of breakage, which all 
practical planters in the district of Tirhoot, Sarun, and 
Cliumparim complain of; '2nd the saving of the loss 
of dye caused in various ways through using sheets 
as at present," &c. When the arrangement of fitting 
the stopping vat for the double purpose of steeping 
and beating is made, the indigo recovered from the 
waste water must be freer from impurities than that 
made by the ordinary process. The indigo made by Mr. 
Filgate at Shapur Mircha. from the waste water chit fly, 
1 believe, on tho last day of bis manufacture — was 
made under extreme difficulties, hence the remark 
made by l'rofessor Church in the seventh paragraph 
of bis report. I am sorry I had not any of the 
stuff I made from the waste water and from the 
table and mal boilers to give to the Professor. This 
subject is of such magnitude and importance to all 
concerned in the industry, and to the dyeing and 
colour business of the world, that it deserves the 
attention that will bo given to it. My plans apply 
to the system of obtaining colouring matter from 
the plant by decoction, as H'ell as by the fermenting 
process, or whether the heat necessary for the manu- 
facture bo had by the direct or combined action of 
fire, steam, or solar heat, of which litter we may 
expect to learn more. No skilled labour beyond that 
employed at indigo factories in general is required 
to work tho changes I propose. I have only givon 
a few short extracts from the many letters I have 
in my possesson from practical planters, and have no 
authority for giving them. — Indian Planter? Gazette. 
♦ 
PLANTING IN UVA. CEYLON. 
COEt'KE — TKA — STONE I'RCIT. 
20th Jan. 1888. 
The weather now in this district is delightfully 
bracing, air fresh and keen in the mornings and 0V6n> 
ings, ami moderately warm and bright throughout the 
day, a gre:it contrast to last month, which was ono 
continuous drizzle. Green bug is still bad. but I think 
thcro is loss of it since tho rain ceased. Opinion* 
