346 
CULTURE OF INDIGO. 
about seven pounds, or twenty-eight pounds in the 
whole. I have just now weighed it, when perfectly 
dry, and the whole weighs only three pounds. Now 
at this rate, indigo would be rather worse than cotton ; 
but I have not given it a fair trial. It was planted 
too wide apart, and not cultivated as it ought to have 
been in consequence of the cold and wet spring draw¬ 
ing my attention to work of more consequence. A 
neighbor of mine, an old indigo planter, has just one 
acre of ground in indigo; he has cut his first crop 
from it, and assures me that he has made fifty pounds 
from it, and expects twenty-five pounds more from a 
second cutting. From the samples of indigo I have 
seen bought by my neighbors, most of whom spin 
and weave, I am quite certain that it is much adulte¬ 
rated with some other substance; and they assure 
me that it is sometimes so bad it will not dye at all. 
Mr. Landry, my neighbor above spoken of, has sold 
what little he made at $2 25 per pound; or half a 
dollar per pound more than the usual retail price of 
the imported indigo. I send you samples of both his 
and mine, which I will thank you to give to some 
dyer, to ascertain the value of it in your market, and 
also a few small lumps of blue, which is three parts 
starch. Mr. Landry says that I do not beat my 
indigo long enough, and lose by it in that way, and 
that I sun it too much and make it too light. He 
smokes his, but 1 cannot clearly comprehend what 
good that does. 
It appears to me impossible to take in and secure a 
crop of more than one and a half acres to the hand, 
and this planted at three different times, that it may 
ripen gradually, and not all at once; and, indeed, 
not so much in a wet summer, of which we have too 
many, sometimes raining for sixty days, with no 
more than two or three days’ intermission, which 
nearly destroys cotton crops, and might be even worse 
on indigo. 
The purport of this letter is to elicit a detailed and 
full account from some practical indigo planter, the 
whole process of making it, as well as to ascertain 
the price at your'market of such qualities as I send 
you. All the accounts that 1 have seen on the sub¬ 
ject are meagre indeed. Nothing at all calculated to 
make an indigo planter. Philip Winfree. 
New River, La., Aug., 1845. 
We have but recently received the samples of 
indigo spoken of above, and not being acquainted 
with any practical cultivator of it, we handed them 
over to Mr. Partridge, an extensive dealer in dye¬ 
stuffs in the city, for information. The following is 
his reply. It must be premised that he puts down 
the wholesale prices the samples might probably bring 
in this city; whereas Mr. Winfree speaks of retail 
prices in the interior of the country. We shall feel 
grateful to any of our readers who can furnish us 
further information on the culture of indigo in this 
country. We do believe it would pay the southern 
planter well if he only knew the proper method of 
cultivating it. 
Mr. Allen, 
Dear Sir :—I have examined the samples of 
indigo sent you by P. Winfree, Esq. The fine sam¬ 
ples mixed with starch may be worth about 30 cents 
per pound, for blueing clothes when washed. The 
squares sent loose in the box, and full of white—or 
rather drab colored specks—might sell at 50 cents per 
ound. The sample from Mr. Landry could scarcely 
e sold at 50 cents; but might bring more, if on trial 
it should work better than its appearance indicates. 
The sample of Mr. Winfree is much inferior to all 
the others, and I much doubt if we could persuade a 
regular consumer to buy it at any price, as it has evi¬ 
dently been injured in the making. 
The best violet and blue Bengal indigo are selling 
at about $1 40 per pound. We are selling prime 
consumable quantities of Bengal at from $1 15 to 
$1 20. Prime Guatimala is selling at from $1 to 
$1 10 per pound. One pound of the latter being 
worth at least twice as much as any sample sent in 
the box, judging from appearances. There is cer¬ 
tainly something wrong in the manipulations of all 
these indigo makers. 
Query 1st. Do they not leave the plant to pass its 
period of maturity before cutting ? Mr. Dalrymple 
informed me that it should be cut when in full fiower; 
another East India maker, that it should be cut before 
the flowers come out in blossom. They all agree 
that if left too long, the indigo produced will be less 
in quantity and of inferior quality. 
Query 2d. Do they not cut the plant too soon after 
rain ? For it appears that it should have several 
days of dry weather before cutting. 
Query 3d. Do they not ferment too much or too 
little ? In making indigo in the East, they judge of 
the steeping by the color and the smell of the liquor. 
Sometimes it is complete in six hours, at other times 
it requires twenty hours This variation in the fer¬ 
mentative process may often arise from the state of 
the weather before cutting; for if moist from rain, 
the fermentation will certainly proceed more rapidly 
than when the weather has been previously dry for 
several days. It may be influenced also from the 
state of the plant when cut, whether it has arrived at 
full maturity, as described by Dalrymple, or whether 
cut before bursting into flower; as the latter would 
undoubtedly ferment more rapidly than the former, 
the condition of the plant being more succulent. The 
state of atmosphere during the process of steeping, 
must have a decided effect in either hastening or re¬ 
tarding the fermentation ; for when it is clear and 
dry the fermentation will not be so rapid as when it 
is hot and moist. It is in this operation that more 
skill is required than in all others: and unless the 
operator understands this point, and attends particu¬ 
larly to it, no profit can be derived from the manu¬ 
facture. 
Some of the best indigo I ever used in England 
was made in South Carolina, by the late Gen. Wade 
Hampton ; who informed me by letter many years 
since, that the art of making was lost in this coun¬ 
try. I presume, however, that it may be recovered 
again by repeated experiments In Mr. Winfree’s 
letter, he states that the seasons are often very wet, 
it sometimes raining for sixty days’ in succession, 
with only two or three days intermission ; now such 
a season must be too moist for the indigofera. 
With regard to the beating, it must be continued 
until all the green particles have become sufficiently 
acidized to precipitate, for whatever portion remains 
in a green state will be lost, this portion being soluble 
in water. Wm. Partridge. 
