The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 66

The indigo of Central America is not put into moulds when drying, as that of Bengal, but is allowed to remain in the rough shape in which it dries, and without further preparation is ready for baling and exportation.

The bales are generally made up in 150 lbs. each, and the quality is cla.s.sed by numbers, from 1 to 9; Nos. 1 to 3 being of the quality called _cobres_ in Europe; Nos. 4 to 6 of that called _cortes_, and Nos. 7 to 9 of that called _flores_; Nos. 1 to 6 do not at present pay the expenses of manufacture, and are never intentionally made. No doubt, with a little more skill in the manufacture, the whole might, as in Bengal, be made of the quality called _flores_; but such improvements cannot be expected till a new race of people inhabit Central America. At present about one-half of the indigo produced is under No. 7, and as the cultivation is said not to pay at the present prices--and, indeed, hardly can be supposed to compete with Bengal, a country where labor is so much cheaper, and capital abundant--it is probable, that the cultivation will shortly be entirely abandoned, unless the price should again rise in Europe." In 1846, 21,933 lbs. of indigo were exported from Angostura.

The following particulars were contributed to my "Colonial Magazine,"

by the late Dr. Edward Binns, of Jamaica:--

The species generally cultivated is the _I. tinctoria_, which requires a rich moist soil and warm weather. The seed, which is at first sight not unlike coa.r.s.e gunpowder, is sown three or four inches deep, in straight lines, twelve or fifteen inches apart. The shoots appear above ground in about a week; at the end of two months the plant flowers, when it is fit for cutting, which is done with a pruning knife. It must be mentioned that great care is requisite in weeding the indigo field when plants first shoot through the earth.

In the State of St. Salvador, large vats made of mahogany, or other hard wood, are constructed for the reception of the plant, where it is allowed to undergo maceration and fermentation. In a short time the water becomes greenish, and emits a strong pungent smell, while carbonic acid gas is freely evolved. In about twenty-four hours it is run off into large flat vessels, and stirred about until a blue sc.u.m appears, when additional water is added, and the blue flakes sink to the bottom. The supernatant water has now acquired a yellowish tinge, when it is run off carefully, and the blue deposit or sediment put into bags to drain. It is subsequently dried in the shade, or sometimes in the sun, then placed in cotton bags and carried to the indigo fair, or forwarded to the city of Guatemala.

The East Indian mode of manufacturing the indigo differs materially, and many suppose it preferable to the Salvador. It consists in _steaming_ the fermented ma.s.s in large pipes enclosed in huge boilers. I am inclined to believe this to be the most economical, if not the best way of manufacturing indigo. From Guatemala alone, it is computed that from 6,000 to 8,000 serons of indigo are exported annually; while San Miguel, Chalatenaugo, Tejulta, Secatecolnea, St.

Vincent, Sensuntepepe, not only, it is said, produce a larger quant.i.ty, but the four last-mentioned places have the advantage as to quality. The _Belize Advertiser_ stated, some time since, that the value of this dye from one State in 1830 produced 2,000,000 dollars, the minimum of an immense sum which has been most unjustly and unwisely wrested from the people of Jamaica, and the West India islands.

Bridges ("Annals of Jamaica," p. 584, Append.), speaking of the vast returns of an indigo plantation, says, "The labour of a single negro would often bring to his owner 30 sterling per annum clear profit,--a sum which was at the time the laborer's highest price. It continued the _staple_ of Jamaica till an intolerable tax oppressed it, while its price was lowered by the compet.i.tion of other colonies.

Its cultivation immediately declined throughout them all, but nowhere so rapidly as here. The financial error was quickly discovered,--a remedy was attempted by a bounty; but it came too late, the plantations were thrown up, and the planters, attracted by the temporary gain, abused the tardy boon, by introducing, as of their own growth, large quant.i.ties of foreign indigo." As Bridges may be said in this pa.s.sage to be merely a commentator on Edwards, who has entered more largely upon the subject, I shall condense from the latter, statements connected with the manufacture and decay of this branch of industry, once the staple of Jamaica.

Edwards ("West Indies," vol. ii., p. 275, 2nd edition) reckons three kinds of indigo--the wild, Guatemala, and French. The first is the hardest, and the dye extracted from it of the best quality as regards color and grain; but one or other of the two species is commonly preferred by the planter, as yielding a greater return. Of these the French surpa.s.ses the Guatemala in quant.i.ty, but yields to it in fineness of grain and beauty of color. The indigo thrives almost on any land, though the richest soils produce the most luxuriant plants, and the longest dry weather will not kill it. The cultivation and manufacture our author thus describes:--"The land being prepared, trenches, two or three inches in depth, are made by the hoe. These are ten or twelve inches asunder. The seeds are then strewed in the trenches by the hand, and slightly covered with mould. When the plants shoot, they are carefully weeded, and kept constantly clean, until they rise high enough to cover the ground. A bushel of seed is sufficient for four or five acres. The best season for planting is March; but if the land be good, it may be sown at any time, and in three months the plants attain maturity. In seasonable situations, they have four cuttings in the year. The subsequent growths from the plants ripen in six or eight weeks; but the produce diminishes after the second cutting, so that the seeds should be sown every second year. A species of grub, or worm, which infests the plant on the second year is avoided by changing the soil; or, in other words, by a rotation of crops. The produce per acre of the first cutting is about 60 lbs. It is nearly as much in North America; but when the thermometer falls to sixty, the returns are very uncertain, that degree of heat being too low for the necessary vegetation, maceration, and fermentation. The yieldings for the subsequent cuttings somewhat diminish; but in Jamaica and St. Domingo, if the land is new, about 300 lbs. per acre of the second quality may be expected annually from all the cuttings together; and four negroes are sufficient to carry on the cultivation of five acres, besides doing other occasional work, sufficient to reimburse the expenses of their maintenance and clothing."

The process for obtaining the dye, according to the same author, was conducted through the means of two cisterns, the one elevated above the other, in the manner of steps. The higher, which was also the longer, was named the _sleeper_--its dimensions sixteen feet square and two and a half in depth. The second, into which the fluid was discharged, was called the _battery_; it was about twelve feet square, and four and a half in depth. These cisterns were of stone; but strong timber answered remarkably well. There was also a lime-vat, six feet square and four feet deep, the plug of which was at least eight inches from the bottom. This was for the purpose of permitting the lime to subside, before the lime-water was withdrawn.

The plants then being ripe, or fit for cutting, were cut with reaping-hooks, or sickles, a few inches from the ground--six was the minimum--and placed by strata in the _sleeper_, until it was about three parts full. They were then pressed with boards, either loaded with weights or wedged down, so as to prevent the plants from floating loosely; and as much water was admitted as they would imbibe, until it covered the ma.s.s four or five inches deep. In this state it was allowed to ferment until the water had extracted the pulp. To know when this had been thoroughly effected, required extreme attention and great practical knowledge; for if the fluid were drawn off too soon, much of the pulp was left behind; and if the fermentation continued too long, the tender tops of the plants were decomposed, and the whole crop lost. When the tincture or extract was received in the battery, it was agitated or churned until the dye began to granulate, or float in little flakes upon the surface. This was accomplished at one period in Jamaica by paddles, worked by manual labor, and, in the French islands, by buckets or cylinders, worked by long poles; but subsequently--that is, at the time Edwards wrote--convenient apparatus was constructed, the levers of which were worked by a cog-wheel, kept in motion by a horse or mule. When the fluid had been churned for fifteen or twenty minutes, a small quant.i.ty was examined in a cup or plate, and if it appeared curdled or coagulated, strongly impregnated lime-water was gradually added, not only with a view to promote separation, but to prevent decomposition. Browne remarks ("Civil and Nat. Hist. of Jamaica,"

art. "Indigo"), the planters "must carefully distinguish the different stages of this part of the operation also, and attentively examine the appearance and color as the work advances,--for the grain pa.s.ses gradually from a greenish to a fine purple, which is the proper color when the liquor is sufficiently worked,--too small a degree of agitation leaving the indigo green and coa.r.s.e, while too vigorous an action brings it to be almost black." The liquor being then, as we shall suppose, properly worked, and granulation established, it was left undisturbed until the flakes settled at the bottom, when the liquor was drawn off, and the sediment (which is the indigo) placed in little bags to drain, after which it was carefully packed in small square boxes, and suffered to dry gradually in the shade.

Such is the account, nearly word for word, which Edwards gives of the mode of manufacturing indigo. I shall now quote his remarks upon the outlay and gain upon the article _verbatim_.--"To what has been said above of the nature of the plant suiting itself to every soil, and producing four cuttings in the year, if we add the cheapness of the buildings, apparatus, and labor, and the great value of the commodity, there will seem but little cause for wonder at the splendid accounts which are transmitted down to us concerning the great opulence of the first indigo-planters. Allowing the produce of an acre to be 300 lbs., and the produce no more than 4s. per pound, the gross profit of only twenty acres will be 1,200, produced by the labor of only sixteen negroes, and on capital in land and buildings scarce deserving consideration." Yet, notwithstanding this statement, the author informs us afterwards that he knew, in the course of eighteen years' residence in the West Indies, upwards of twenty persons who tried to re-establish indigo manufactories, but failed. This appears strange, since it is plain that what has once been done can be done again, but especially in the manufacture of an article requiring a capital so very small in proportion to the profits as almost to tempt the most cautious and the most timid man to embark in it.

I quote the following pa.s.sage from the same author, for the purpose of showing the very loose manner in which statements are made on the authority of others, who are as incompetent to decide the merits of a question as the party himself chronicling their opinion. Speaking of the twenty unfortunate indigo-planters, our author thus writes:--"Many of them were men of foresight, knowledge, and property. That they failed is certain; but of _the causes of their_ FAILURE _I confess I can give no satisfactory account._ I was told that disappointment trod close upon their heels at every stop. At one time the fermentation was too long continued, at another the liquor was drawn off too soon; now the pulp was not duly granulated, and now it was worked too much. To these inconveniences, for which practice would doubtless have found a remedy, were added others of a much greater magnitude--the mortality of the negroes, from the vapour of fermented liquor (an alarming circ.u.mstance, that, I am informed, both by the French and English planters, constantly attends the process), the failure of the seasons, and the ravages of the worm. These, or some of these evils, drove them at length to other pursuits, where industry might find a surer recompense."--(p.

283.)

The fallacy of much of this requires no comment, as it must strike even the most careless reader,--for if the so-called indigo-growers did not know the process of manufacturing the commodity, then it could not be surprising that they failed. Thus the cause of their failure required no comment, and no explanation. Were a ploughman taken from the field and placed at the helm of a s.h.i.+p, and the vessel in consequence wrecked, would any one be astonished but at the folly of those who placed him there? This was the case with the indigo-growers,--they attempted what they did not understand, and, consequently, lost their labor and their money. The mortality of the negroes employed, stated as another reason for abandoning the attempt, requires a somewhat more lengthy notice.

I can briefly say, that I have learned that in the Central States of America, deaths among indigo-laborers are not more frequent than in other branches of tropical industry; and I never heard or have read that the _original_ growers complained of the mortality attending the progress. The truth is, that this statement is not founded on fact. There is nothing whatever in the manufacture of indigo, either in the cultivation or the granulation, or even the maceration and fermentation of the plant, which is directly or indirectly, _per se_, injurious to human life. I have certainly never seen the indigo plant macerated on a large scale; but I have myself steeped much of it in water, and allowed it even to rot, and found nothing in the ma.s.s differing in any marked degree from decomposed vegetable matter. It seems to me that this idea of the manufacture of indigo being especially inimical to human life, is as unfounded as the belief, even by Humboldt, up to a very recent period, that none of the Cerealia would grow in tropical climates. In conversing with an old gentleman in Jamaica, some twelve years since, who had tried the manufacture of indigo, and with every prospect of success, but abandoned it, as he confessed, for the cultivation of the sugar cane, since it was then more profitable, he suggested the solution, that as the manufacture was light work, probably aged and debilitated, in place of youthful and vigorous slaves, were too frequently employed in the process--hence the mortality. This may be correct to a certain extent; but I am also inclined to think that another cause of mortality might be found in the mode and manner in which the negro was fed and clothed, and not because aged persons were exclusively engaged in the manufacture. I believe I may state, without fear of contradiction, that the real cause of the decline and consequent abandonment of the indigo plant was the monstrous duty levied upon it by the English government. Indeed, this has been already stated in the extract from Bridges; while the cause of the failure of the attempt to renew it, over and above the reasons we have given, was the greater temptation to embark capital in sugar plantations,--the West Indies enjoying a monopoly in this article, while they had compet.i.tors in the Southern States of America in the other. I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying, that, with a trifling capital, under prudent management, indigo might be cultivated to a very great extent, and with considerable profit, even now, in Jamaica. But the adventurer is not to expect to count his gains, as the original growers did, by thousands; he must be content with hundreds, if not fifties; for at the present day every branch of industry is laden with difficulties, enc.u.mbered by taxation, and obstructed by compet.i.tion. There are two objections, however, which I have not removed,--I allude to "the failure of the seasons and the ravages of the worm." Very little need be said to combat these. Seasons are mutable, and the same heaven that frowns this year on the labors of the husbandman, may smile the next; while a remedy for the "ravages of the worm" may be found in the mutation of the soil, the destruction of the grub, or the rotation of crops,--accessories to success which seem not to have entered into the vocabularies of the twenty pseudo indigo-growers, "many of them men of knowledge, foresight and property."

The following pa.s.sage from Bryan Edwards will corroborate much that I have endeavored to enforce. It furnishes not only a solution which has been hinted at before, of the enigma why indigo ceased to be cultivated in Jamaica, but also _an incentive_ to re-introduce the culture. He says (p. 444), "It is a remarkable and well-known circ.u.mstance, after the cultivation of indigo was suppressed by an exorbitant duty of near 20 the hundred-weight, Great Britain was compelled to pay her rivals and enemies 200,000 annually for this commodity, so essential to a great variety of her most important manufactures. At length, the duty being repealed, and a bounty some time after subst.i.tuted in its place, the States of Georgia and South Carolina entered upon, and succeeding in the culture of this valuable plant, supplied at a far cheaper rate than the French and Spaniards (receiving too our manufactures in payment) not only the British consumption, but also enabled Great Britain to export a surplus at an advanced price to foreign markets."--It is therefore plain that the manufacture of indigo was lost to Jamaica, not from any difficulty in growing the plant, or from any loss of life attending the process of manufacturing it, but from the ruinously heavy duty of 20 the hundred-weight--and that now, when no duty exists, it might be again cultivated with great advantage.

The cultivation of indigo has been repeatedly attempted in Cuba, but never with much success; although the shrub called the Xiquilite, from which it is extracted, grows wild in several districts of the island, but more especially towards the eastern extremity. The first _anileria_, or manufactory of indigo, was established in 1795, under the patronage of the _Ayuntamento_ of the Havana, who made an advance of 3,500 dollars, without interest, to the party engaging in the speculation, in order to encourage the enterprise; but the undertaking proved unsuccessful, and the same fate has befallen every subsequent attempt to introduce this branch of industry. In 1827, the whole produce amounted only to 56 arrobas. In 1837 the imports of indigo greatly exceeded the exports; the former having amounted to 121,350 lbs., and the latter to 82,890 lbs. In 1833, 5,184 lbs. reached the United Kingdom from the Havana, and in 1843, 62,675 lbs.

In 1826 British Honduras exported 358,552 lbs.; in 1830, 2,650 serons; in 1844, 1,247 serons; and in 1845, 1,052 serons.

The indigo shrub is one of the most common bushes in Trinidad, where it grows wild on almost all the indifferent soils. In 1783, there were several plantations and manufactories of indigo established in Trinidad; these were subsequently abandoned, on account of a supposition that they were unhealthy. Prior to 1783, the colonists had a kind of simple process by which they extracted sufficient coloring matter to serve domestic consumption. This process is at present unknown, hence all the indigo used there is imported from Europe, although the plant from which it can be made vegetates in every direction.

In 1791 Hayti imported 930,016 lbs. of indigo, while in 1804 the export had dwindled to 35,400 lbs.

Indigo, as I have already stated, was once a most important crop in South Carolina, some attention has recently again been given to it by an individual or two in Louisiana, and the enterprise is said to promise success; enough might undoubtedly be raised in the United States to supply the home market. Some indigo produced at Baton Rouge was p.r.o.nounced to have been equal to the best Caraccas, which sells at two dollars per pound; and the gentleman who cultivated it remarks, that one acre of ground there, well cultivated, will yield from 40 to 60 lbs.; that it requires only from July to October for cultivating it; that there is not connected with it one-third of the expense or time that is generally required for the cultivation of cotton.

I take the following from Smyth's "Tour in the United States."

"This plant is somewhat like the fern when grown, and when young is hardly distinguishable from lucern gra.s.s, its leaves in general are pinnated, and terminated by a single lobe; the flowers consist of five leaves, and are of the papilonaceous kind, the uppermost petal being longer and rounder than the rest, and lightly furrowed on the side, the lower ones are short and end in a point; in the middle of the flower is formed the style, which afterwards becomes a pod containing the seeds.

"They cultivate three sorts of indigo in Carolina, which demand the same variety of soils. First, the French or Hispaniola indigo, which striking a long tap root will only flourish in a deep rich soil, and therefore, though an excellent sort, is not so much cultivated in the maritime parts of the State, which are generally sandy, but it is produced in great perfection one hundred miles backwards; it is neglected too on another account, for it hardly bears a winter so sharp as that of Carolina. The second sort, which is the false Guatemala, or true Bahamas, bears the winter better, is a more tall and vigorous plant, is raised in greater quant.i.ties from the same compa.s.s of ground, is content with the worst soil in the country, and is therefore more cultivated than the first soil, though inferior in the quality of its dye.

"The third sort is the wild indigo, which is indigenous here; this, as it is a native of the country, answers the purposes of the planter best of all, with regard to the hardiness of the plant, the easiness of the culture, and the quant.i.ty of the produce. Of the quality there is some dispute not yet settled amongst the planters themselves; nor can they distinctly tell when they are to attribute the faults of their indigo to the nature of the plant, to the seasons, which have much influence upon it, or to some defect in the manufacture.

"The time of planting the indigo is generally after the first rains succeeding the vernal equinox; the seed is sown in small straight trenches, about eighteen or twenty inches asunder; when it is at its height, it is generally eighteen inches tall. It is fit for cutting, if all things answer well, in the beginning of July.

"Towards the end of August a second cutting is obtained, and if they have a mild autumn, there is a third cutting at Michaelmas. The indigo land must be weeded every day, the plants cleansed from worms, and the plantation attended with the greatest care and diligence. About twenty-five hands may manage a plantation of fifty acres, and complete the manufacture of the drug, besides providing their own necessary subsistence and that of the planter's family.

"Each acre yields, if the land be very good, 60 or 70 lbs. weight of indigo, at a medium the produce is 50 lbs. This however, is reckoned by many skilful planters but a very indifferent crop.

"When the plant is beginning to blossom it is fit for cutting, and when cut great care ought to be taken to bring it to the steeper without pressing or shaking it, as great part of the beauty of the indigo depends upon the fine farina, which adheres to the leaves of this plant. The apparatus for making indigo is inconsiderable and not expensive, for besides a pump, the whole consists only of vats and tubs of cypress wood, common and cheap in this country.

"The indigo, when cut, is first laid in a vat, about twelve or fourteen feet long and four feet deep, to the height of about fourteen inches, to macerate and digest; then this vessel, which is called the _steeper_, is filled with water; the whole having laid from about twelve to sixteen hours, according to the weather, begins to ferment, swell, rise, and grow sensibly warm. At this time spars of wood are run across, to mark the highest point of its ascent; when it falls below this mark, they judge that the fermentation has attained its due pitch, and begins to abate; this directs the manager to open a c.o.c.k, and let off the water into another vat, which is called the _beater_; the gross matter that remains in the first vat is carried off to manure the ground, for which purpose it is excellent, and new cuttings are put in, as long as the harvest of the weed continues. When the water, strongly impregnated with the particles of indigo, has run into the second vat or beater, they attend with a sort of bottomless buckets, with long handles, to work and agitate it, when it froths, ferments, and rises above the rim of the vessel that contains it. To allay this violent fermentation, oil is thrown in as the froth rises, which instantly sinks it. When this beating has continued for twenty, thirty, or thirty-five minutes, according to the state of the weather (for in cool weather it requires the longest continued beating), a small muddy grain begins to be formed; the salts and other particles of the plant united, dissolved, and before mixed with the water, are now re-united together, and begin to granulate. To discover these particles the better, and to find when the liquor is sufficiently beaten, they take up some of it from time to time on a plate, or in a gla.s.s; when it appears in a hopeful condition, they let loose some lime water from an adjacent vessel, gently stirring the whole, which wonderfully facilitates the operation; the indigo granulates more fully, the liquor a.s.sumes a purplish color, and the whole is troubled and muddy; it is now suffered to settle; then the clearer part is permitted to run off into another succession of vessels, from whence the water is conveyed away as fast as it clears on the top, until nothing remains but a thick mud, which is put into bags of coa.r.s.e linen. These are hung up and left for some time until the moisture is entirely drained off.

"To finish the drying, this mud is turned out of the bags, and worked upon boards of some porous timber, with a wooden spatula; it is frequently exposed to the morning and evening sun, but for a short time only; and then it is put into boxes or frames, which is called the curing, exposed again to the sun in the same cautious manner, until, with great labor and attention the operation is finished, and the valuable drug fitted for the market. The greatest skill and care is required in every part of the process, or there may be great danger of ruining the whole; the water must not be suffered to remain too short or too long a time, either in the steeper or beater; the beating itself must be nicely managed, so as not to exceed or fall short; and in the curing the exact medium between too much or too little drying is not easily attained. Nothing but experience can make the overseers skilful in these matters. There are two methods of trying the goodness of indigo; by fire and by water. If it swims it is good, if it sinks it is inferior, the heavier the worse; so if it wholly dissolves in water it is good. Another way of proving it, is by the fire ordeal; if it entirely burns away it is good, the adulterations remain untouched."

Indigo to the extent of 220,000 lbs. per annum is grown in Egypt. The leaves are there thrown into earthen vessels, which are buried in pits and filled with water; heat is applied, and the liquid is boiled away until the indigo becomes of a fit consistence, when it is pressed into shape and dried. Many Armenians have been invited from the East Indies to teach the fellahs the best mode of preparation, and, in consequence, nine indigo works have been established belonging to the government.

The indigo plant is found scattered like a weed abundantly over the face of the country in the district of Natal, Eastern Africa. It is said that there are no less than ten varieties of the plant commonly to be met with there. Mr. Blaine submitted, in 1848, to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, a small specimen of this dye-stuff, which had been extracted by a rude process from a native plant, which was p.r.o.nounced by good authority to be of superior quality, and worth 3s.

4d. per pound. Mr. W. Wilson, a settler at Natal, in a letter to the editor of the _Natal Witness_, thus speaks of the culture:--

"My attention was first forcibly drawn to the cultivation of indigo by some seed imported by Mr. Kinlock, from India. This seed, on trial, I found to grow luxuriantly; and after a few experiments I succeeded in manufacturing the dye. The success which thus attended my first attempts has encouraged me to try indigo planting on a more extensive scale. For this purpose I am allowing all the plants of this season to run to seed, and intend to plant equal quant.i.ties of Bengal and native indigo.

While my attention was engaged in these preliminary experiments, I observed that the country abounded in a variety of species of indigo, and by a series of experiments found it rich and abundant, and have since learnt that it is known and in use among the natives, and called by them Umpek.u.mbeto.

This of course induced further inquiry, and on consulting different works I find that the Cape of Good Hope possesses more species of indigo than the whole world besides. Now I take it for granted that if Providence has placed these materials within our reach, it was evidently intended that we should, by the application of industry, appropriate them to our use. It becomes, then, a matter of necessity that indigo must thrive, this being its native soil and climate; and the experiments I have successfully made, go to support me in the opinion that the cultivation of indigo will bring an ample reward.

Indeed it seems contrary to the laws of nature that it should be otherwise.

I have obtained from the 140th part of an acre the proportion of 300 lbs. of indigo per acre. That the plant will cross successfully, I have also ascertained."

_Cultivation in India._--During the nine years which preceded the opening of the trade with India in 1814, the annual average produce of indigo in Bengal, for exportation, was nearly 5,600,000 lbs. But since the ports were opened, the indigo produced for exportation has increased fully a third; the exports during the sixteen years ending with 1829-30, being above 7,400,000 lbs. a year.

The consumption in the United Kingdom has averaged, during the last ten years, about 2,500,000 lbs. a year.

In 1839-40 the export of indigo from Madras amounted to 1,333,808 lbs. A small quant.i.ty is also exported from the French settlement of Pondicherry. In 1837 the export from Manila amounted to about 250,000 lbs. The export from Batavia in 1841 amounted to 913,693 lbs., and the production in 1843 was double that amount. The annual exports of indigo, from all parts of Asia and the Indian Archipelago, were taken by M'Culloch, in 1840, to be 12,440,000 lbs. The imports are about 20,000 chests of Bengal, and 8,000 from Madras annually, of which 9,000 or 10,000 are used for home consumption, and the rest re-exported.

The total crop of indigo in the Bengal Presidency has ranged, for the last twenty years, at from 100,000 to 172,000 factory maunds; the highest crop was in 1845. The factory maund of indigo in India is about 78 lbs.

In the delta of the Ganges, where the best and largest quant.i.ty of indigo is produced, the plant lasts only for a single season, being destroyed by the periodical inundation; but in the dry central and western provinces, one or two _ratoon_ crops are obtained.

The culture of indigo is very precarious, not only in so far as respects the growth of the plant from year to year, but also as regards the quant.i.ty and quality of the drug which the same amount of plant will afford in the same season.

The fixed capital required, as I have already shown, in the manufacture of indigo, consists simply of a few vats of common masonry for steeping the plant, and precipitating the coloring matter; a boiling and drying house, and a dwelling for the planter. Thus a factory of ten pair of vats, capable of producing, at an average, 12,500 lbs. of indigo, worth on the spot 2,500, will not cost above 1,500 sterling. The buildings and machinery necessary to produce an equal value in sugar and rum, would probably cost about 4,000.

The indigo of Bengal is divided into two cla.s.ses, called, in commercial language, Bengal and Oude; the first being the produce of the southern provinces of Bengal and Bahar, and the last that of the northern provinces, and of Benares. The first cla.s.s is in point of quality much superior to the other. The inferiority of the Oude indigo is thought to be more the result of soil and climate, than of any difference in the skill with which the manufacture is conducted. The indigo of Madras, which is superior to that of Manila, is about equal to ordinary Bengal indigo. The produce of Java is superior to these.

Large quant.i.ties of indigo, of a very fine quality, are grown in Scinde. I have to acknowledge the receipt, from the Indian Government, of an interesting collection of doc.u.ments on the culture and manufacture of indigo in Upper Scinde. The papers are chiefly from the pen of Mr. Wood, Deputy Collector of Sukkur, though there are several others, perhaps of much value, from various other of the revenue officers of Scinde.

Mr. Wood is of opinion that Scinde is much better suited than Bengal for the production of this dye-stuff--the alluvial soil on the banks of the Indus is equal in richness to that on those of the Ganges, and the climate seems equally well suited for the growth of the plant. But in two years out of three, the crops of the Bengal planter are injured by excessive inundations, while the work of gathering and manipulation is necessarily performed, during the rainy season, under the greatest imaginable disadvantages. In Scinde, on the other hand, the inundation of the river is produced almost solely from the melting of the snows in the Himalayas, and it is not liable to those excessive fluctuations in amount, or that suddenness in appearance peculiar to inundations chiefly arising from falls of rain. The Granges sometimes rises ten feet in four-and-twenty hours, and at some part of its course its depth is at times forty feet greater during a flood than in fair weather, while the Indus rarely rises above a foot a day, its extreme flood never exceeding fifteen feet, the limits and amount of the inundation being singularly uniform over a succession of years.

Moreover, as rain hardly ever falls in Scinde, and when it does so only continues over a few days, and extends to the amount of three or four inches, no danger or inconvenience from this need be apprehended.

Mr. Wood mentions that hemp may be grown in profusion on the indigo grounds, and that were the production of the dye once introduced, it would bring hundreds of thousands of acres now barren into cultivation, and secure the growth or manufacture of a vast variety of other commodities for which the country is eminently fitted. An experimental factory might, it is believed, be set up for from two to three thousand pounds, but this appears to be an amount of adventure from which the Government shrinks.