The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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The crop of the first year is small, and sometimes not worth
manufacturing; that of the second year is the best, and the third is
also very good, if it has been carefully weeded; but many indigo
fields have lasted more than ten years without being re-sown, as the
seed which falls naturally springs up again, and where the land is
good yields nearly as large a crop as a new sown field. When the plant
is ready for manufacturing, a number of men are collected, each of
whom is either provided with, or brings his own mule or horse, if he
has one. Two men always go together, cut the plant, then about the
height of full-grown red clover, and take it to the vats, which are
large tanks made of brick and lime, holding at least 1,000 gallons,
and some as much as 10,000. Into these the plant is thrown till they
are nearly full, when weights are put above it to prevent its
floating; and the vats filled with water till it covers the mass of
the indigo plant. After remaining from twelve to twenty-four hours,
according to the state of the plant, weather, and other circumstances
(the time required being determined by the color which the water
assumes), the herb is taken out, and the water beaten with paddles in
the very small vats, and by a wheel suspended above and turned by men
or horses in the larger ones, till it changes from a green color,
which it has acquired ere the removal of the herb, to a fine blue,
when it is allowed to stand for some hours, till the coloring matter
has settled to the bottom of the tank, a process which is generally
hastened by throwing in an infusion of certain herbs to facilitate its
settlement, or as the natives term it curdle (_cuajar_) the colored
water. As soon as all the color has settled, the water is drawn off,
and the blue, which is of the consistency of thick mud, is taken out
of the vat and spread upon cotton, or coarse woollen cloth, and dried
in the sun. The color in a great measure depends upon removing the
herb exactly at the proper time, and upon properly beating the water,
neither too long, or too short. Unless these processes are properly
performed, the indigo will not be of first-rate quality; but some
estates will never produce the best indigo, whatever care may be
bestowed on the manufacture.

A _mansana_, of 100 yards square, which is nearly two British statute
acres, produces generally about 100 to 120 lbs. of indigo, the
carriage and cutting of the herb costing about twenty dollars, and the
cleaning of the field and all other expenses connected with it,
including the manufacture of the indigo, about as much more.

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
classed 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 coarse 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
scum 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 mass 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
quantity, 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 L30 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 competition 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 quantities of foreign indigo." As Bridges
may be said in this passage 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 surpasses the Guatemala in quantity, 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 mass 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 quantity 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 passes 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 coarse, 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 L1,200, 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 passage 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 circumstance, 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 ship, 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
mass 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 competitors 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, encumbered by
taxation, and obstructed by competition. 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 passage 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
circumstance, after the cultivation of indigo was suppressed by an
exorbitant duty of near L20 the hundred-weight, Great Britain was
compelled to pay her rivals and enemies L200,000 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 substituted 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 L20 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 pronounced 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 grass, 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 quantities from the same
compass 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.