149 
of 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) in India. Germany expects to 
make from 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 marks (£3,000,000) value of arti- 
ficial indigo per annum. The appearance of this artificial mdigo on 
the market, chemically similar to the chemical substance extracted 
from the plant, brought down prices to an alarming extent. In 
1807 the product containing 60 per cent, of pure indigo sold at 
fr.30 per kilo. (10s. lod. per lb.), in 1883 prices came down to 
20 fr. per kilo. ( 7 s. 2d. per lb.). Prices now ruling are 17 fr. 50c. 
per kilo. ( 6 s. 4 d. per ib.) delivered free at consumers works 
It costs the manufacturer about 10 fr. per kilg. (3s. jd. per lb.) 
* Mark the profit. The plant of the Badische Amlin und Soda 
Fabrik cost no less than £900,000. Acetic acid one of the 
chemical substances required in the process, which is obtained from 
wood, is used to the extent of 2,000 tons anually. This means 
a consumption of 130,000 cubic yards of wood. The reader of 
these notes will thus be able to get a fair idea of the colossal 
nature of this German enterprise, the object of which is to 
wrest from the British Indian Empire the indigo market. With the 
discovery of new processes of manufacture by competing German 
firms, and inevitable lowering of prices will follow, which natural 
indiao will find it hard to cope with. But the lowering of prices 
will not greatly affect the German industry, for pure indigotine could 
be sold in France at 12 fr. per killo. (4^. ^d. per lb ) at a profit. 
There can be no question of any rise in the prices of the substance 
it is extracted from of sufficient importance to cause a rise in in- 
digotine, the supply of coal-tar being illimitable. The demand for 
indigotine is already very great. One of the firms mentioned, the 
Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik, have sold, 1,000,000 fr. worth 
(£40,000) of artificial indigo in one year in France. Both firms 
now operating in France cannot keep pace with the demand. As I 
have said above, both German firms are now manufacturing their 
indigo in France. 
Conclusions. 
It must be confessed that the outlook for Indian growers of in- 
digo appears black enough almost to warrant their following the 
example of the planters in Java, who have given up indigo for 
, tobacco and sugar. , . . , . 
Some importers here are of opinion that the substitution of arti- 
ficial for natural indigo is only a matter of time. It is to the inter- 
est of the consumers to favour a product that will put a stop to the 
two threat variations in prices of a dye owing to the nature of the 
fs year’s crop. They think that natural indigo will still hold its own 
for some time against its competitor owing to its durability as a fast 
dye. Madder had to give way to alizarine red, and cheapness, the 
dangerous weapon in all German competitive struggles, is an in- 
ducement very difficult to resist. If the dye will last the cloth, 
as in cotton print and woollen fabrics not exposed, like uniforms to 
sun and rain, what advantage can the manufacturer on the Conti- 
nent find in a dearer though better dye, if the cheapen be more attrac- 
tive to the eye and gives so much greater profit. 
