104 HISTORY OF THE [book y. 
materials, vats of strong timber, well secured from 
leakage will answer as well.* 
The plants are cut with reap-hooks or sickles, 
a few inches above the root,f and placed by strata 
in the steeper, until it is about three parts full. 
They are then strongly pressed down by boards or 
planks, which are wedged or loaded, to prevent 
the plants from buoying up; and as much water is 
admitted as the weed will imbibe, until it is cover¬ 
ed four or five inches deep, and in this state it is 
left to ferment, until the pulp is extracted; but 
the utmost attention and nice management are 
now required; for, if the fluid is drawn off too 
soon, much of the pulp is left behind; and if the 
fermentation is too long continued, the tender tops 
* There is also required a lime-vat, six by eight feet square, and 
four feet deep ; and it may be proper to observe, that the tap or plug 
hole ought to be placed at least eight inches from the bottom, to leave 
sufficient room for the lime to subside, before the lime-water is drawn 
off into the battery. 
f Some persons are of opinion, that the plants should not be cut 
nearer the ground than six inches, and that a few hranches shou'd be 
left on the stem.—This practice, they say, will draw up the sap bet¬ 
ter, and produce a more luxuriant ratoon than when a naked stalk on¬ 
ly is left. During the first cutting it is usual to leave some of the 
most flourishing stalks for seed, which ought not to be gathered until 
it is well hardened in the pod—It generally icquires ten bushels of the 
pod to produce a single bushel of clean dry seed fit for sowing. It 
may also be observed, that many indigo planters have a notion that 
the plant yields the greatest quantity of the dye, when cut at the full 
of the moon.—Of this fact I can assert nothing, of my own know¬ 
ledge. 
