Remonstrantie 4.1

4.1

Indigo is sown in June, when the first rain has fallen, at the rate of 14 or 15 lb. of seed to the bigha, or square of 60 Holland ells. If the rains are moderate, the crop grows an ell high in the course of four months, and is usually cut at the end of September or early in October, when it is fully ripe. The leaves of indigo are round, not unlike the rue of our country. The cold weather sometimes sets in so suddenly that, if the cutting is postponed too long, the indigo loses its colour in the course of manufacture, and comes out brown without gloss, for it cannot stand cold. It is a good sign of a heavy yield if in the nauti [first crop] grass comes up plentifully, though expensive weeding is then required to prevent injury to the indigo roots, or delay in growth. At harvest the plants are cut a handbreadth from the ground, and next year the ziarie [second, or ratoon, crop] grows from the stumps. The yield of one bigha is usually put into each put, and allowed to steep for 16 or 17 hours, the put being about 38 ft. in perimeter, and its depth the height of an ordinary man; the water is then run off into a round put, constructed at a somewhat lower level, 32 ft. in circumference and 6 ft. deep. Two or three men standing in the put work the indigo back and forward with their arms, and owing to the continuous motion the water absorbs the dark-blue colour.