X* 
INDIGOFEI! .A. 
and flie country from which it was imported, it is deno¬ 
minated by fome authors Atramentum Indicum, and Indicum 
nigrum. Even at the clofe of the fixteenth century, it was 
not known in England what plant produced indigo. For 
in the Remembrances of Mailer S. by Richard Hakluyt 
in 158a, he was inftrufted “ to know if anile, that colour¬ 
ed! blew, be a natural commodity of thofe parts, (Tur¬ 
key ;) and, if it be compounded of an herbe, to fend the 
feed or root, with the order of fowing, See. that it may 
become a natural commodity in the realme, as woad is, 
that the high price of foreign woad may be brought down.” 
Gerarde, in 1597, is wholly filent about it, and fo is jolm- 
i'on in 1632. Parkinfon however, in 1640, treats largely 
of it. He calls it Indico, or Indian woade, and gives a figure 
of the leaf from De Laet. He then deferibes it, firft from 
t Francis Ximenes in De Laet’s defeription of America; 
and fecondly, from Mr. William Finch, a London mer¬ 
chant, in Purchas’s Pilgrims. Even in 1688, Mr. Ray 
fays, it was not agreed among botanifts what plant it is 
from'which indigo is made ; but that the molt probable 
opinion was, that it is a leguminofe fhrub, allied to Co- 
lutea. He deferibes it from Hernandez and Marcgraaf; 
and fubjoins that of the avuri from the Hortus Malabari- 
cus. Nil, or anil, is the American name ; it is nile alfo 
in Arabic; the Portuguefe have adopted their anil, or ani- 
leira, from the American ; the other European nations 
generally call it indigo ; in Chinefe it is den laam, which 
lignifies fky-blue. v 
The works for fleeping and fermenting the indigo in 
the Weft Indies confilt of three or five fquare cifterns or 
vats, well cemented, terraffed, and feafoned. They are 
made gradually fmaller, and fo fituated as to have the top 
of the fecond and third on a line with the bottom of the 
firft, or a little lower; and the top of the fourth and fifth 
on a line with, or lower than, the bottom of the fecond and 
third. The firft is called the Jleeper, and is generally made 
about eight or ten feet fquare, by four deep, and opens 
into the fecond and third by round holes, made clofe to 
the bottom, fo as to difeharge all the tinCture readily. 
The fecond, or fecond and third, vats, are called the beat¬ 
ers. If there be only one, and the liquor is to be worked 
up with hand-buckets, it fliould be eight or ten feet fquare, 
and fix feet deep; but if there be two, and the tincture 
is to be beaten with an engine, they fliould be fo deep as 
to hold all the liquor a good way below the main or ho¬ 
rizontal axis into which the buckets are fixed; and the 
walls fliould be nearly as high over the rollers as the cif- 
tern is deep below them, to prevent the tinCture from be¬ 
ing wafted. After the liquor is well beat, it is left to 
fettle; and, when the pulp is depofited, the clear fluid is 
drawn off by a vent placed fome inches aboverthe bottom 
of each ciftern ; and the remainder is difcharged into the 
fourth and fifth cifterns, by convenient outlets placed 
clofe to the bottom. Thefe laft cifterns are fmall ; they 
are however generally made fquare, and proportioned to 
the quantity of pulp fucli works commonly produce at a 
time. Thefe works being in good order, and the plants 
cut and carried to them, they are laid in the lleeper, and, 
when that is pretty full, boards are laid over them, fup- 
ported by props, from the.beams that overlay the ciftern; 
thefe being well fettled, they put in as much water as will 
cover the weed, and leave it to digeft and ferment, until 
the greateft part of the pulp is extracted ; without letting 
the tender tops run to putrefaction. In the management 
of this point the judgment of the planter chiefly confifts ; 
for, if lie draws olf the water but two hours too foon, he 
lofes the greateft part of the pulp; and, if the fermenta¬ 
tion runs biit two hours too long, the whole is fpoiled. 
They frequently therefore draw- out a handful of the 
weed; and, when they find the tops grow very tender and 
pale, and obferve the llronger leaves to change their co¬ 
lour to a lefs lively pale,-they draw off the liquor without 
delay. They foon Learn to know this critical point, by 
the height of the fermentation, and grain of the tinCture ; 
of which they frequently beat a little in'a filver cup, for 
Vol. XI. No. 730. 
that pOrpofe. The pulp being thus extruded, the tinc r 
lure is difcharged into the beaters, and there worked up 
by two or three negroes, each with a bucket, (or by an 
engine.) They agitate it, until the dye begins to granu¬ 
late, or float in little flocculae in the water; which lepara- 
tion is greatly forwarded by a gradual addition of clear 
lime-water. The different ftages of this operation are 
diltinguilhed by examining a finall quantity of the liquor 
in a fiiver cup-from time to time; and a little experience 
foon teaches them to know when to ftop by a Angle drop 
upon the nail at any degree of height, as they would have 
their indigo of a deep copperifli-blue, or of a paler colour. 
The liquor is now left undifturbed, until the flocCulas fet¬ 
tle ; then the water is. difcharged, and the magma, or 
mud, is let out by a lower vent into its proper recepta¬ 
cles. This is again, by fome, put into a cauldron, and 
heated over a gentle fire, but not fo as to boil, and then 
emptied into little bags to drain ; by others it is not heat¬ 
ed, but immediately put into the bags; by all, it is af¬ 
terwards put into fquare boxes, with the fides not above 
four inches deep, that it may dry the fooner, and without 
crumbling, which it is otherwife apt to do. 
34. Indigofera difperma, or two-leaved indigo : leaves 
pinnate, oval ; racemes elongated ; legumes two-feeded. 
This refembles the preceding, but the racemes are longer 
than the compound leaves, and the legumes are two-feeded. 
Native of the Eaft Indies. 
35. Indigofera argentea, or filvery-leaved indigo: leaves 
ternateand pinnate, obovate, filky, legumes torulofe, pen¬ 
dulous. The whole plant is filky and glaucous ; Item 
fuffruticofe, upright, branched, round, from half a yard 
to three quarters of a yard in height, and grey. Flowers 
from nine to twelve, purple, very fmall, as in I. tinctoria. 
Linnaeus fays, that the legumes have ufually three feeds 
in them. According to him, it is a native of the Eaft In¬ 
dies ; l'Heritier fays, it is a native of Egypt, and that he 
had the feeds from Alexandria by Jean Baptifte Mure, 
conful-general in Egypt, in the year 1783; and that he 
had fince been informed, by profeffor Louiche Desfon- 
taines, that it is cultivated abundantly in the kingdom of 
Tunis for dyeing, but is not indigenous there. The 
Arabs call it hab-nil. Whether the plant deferibed by 
Monf. l’Heritier and Monf. Gouan be the fame is not 
quite certain. The former refers to Linnaeus's Mantiffa; 
and Vahl, who refers to Gouan, refers alfo to the fame 
work of Linnaeus. Indeed there is much confufion in 
the lpecies yet to be cleared up ; and we are yet uncer¬ 
tain whether the plants cultivated in different countries 
for dyeing, be really diftinCt fpecies or only varieties. 
Propagation and Culture. The fpecies firft known in Eu¬ 
rope are natives of the Eaft Indies, and may be propa¬ 
gated by feeds. The leeds rauft be fown in a hot-bed 
early in the fpring ; and, when the plants come up two 
inches high, they fliould be tranfplanted into fmall pots 
filled with good frefli earth, and the pots mult be plunged 
into a hot-bed of tanner’s bark ; when the plants have 
obtained fome llrength, the glades mult be railed in the 
day-time. The perennial forts may alfo be increafed by 
cuttings. Molt of the new fpecies are from the Cajieof Good 
Hope. Thefe require only the protection of a dry Hove 
or glafs cafe, and may be propagated by cuttings, though 
fome of them do not ltrike very readily. Several of them 
ripen their feeds in Europe, and therefore may be alfo 
propagated that way. Several fpecies are natives of Egypt 
or Arabia ; two are natives of China ; one of Cochin- 
china ; and one of New Granada in Spanilh America. 
All therefore are the growth of hot climates; and not one 
of Europe. 
Culture of Indigo, No. 33, in the Wejl Indies. Indigo feems 
to thrive belt in a free rich foil, and a warm lituation ; 
but, to anfwer the planter’s toil to his fatisfaCtion, it 
fliould be cultivated where it may be frequently refreihed 
with nioitture. Having firft cboferL a proper piece of 
ground, and cleared it, hoe it into little trenches, not 
above two inches or two inches and a half iji depth, nor 
F more 
