In the East Indies, after having ploughed the ground in October, November, and the beginning of December, they sow the seed in the last half of March and the beginning of April, while the soil, being neither too hot nor too dry, is most propitious to its germination.  A light mould answers best; and sunshine, with occasional light showers, are most favorable to its growth.  Twelve pounds of seed are sufficient for sowing an acre of land.  The plants grow rapidly, and will bear to be cut for the first time at the beginning of July; nay, in some districts so early as the middle of June.  The indications of maturity are the bursting forth of the flower buds, and the expansion of the blossoms; at which period the plant abounds most in the dyeing principle.  Another indication is taken from the leaves, which, if they break across when doubled flat, denote a state of maturity.  But this character is somewhat fallacious, and depends upon the poverty or richness of the soil.  When much rain falls, the plants grow too rapidly, and do not sufficiently elaborate the blue pigment.  Bright sunshine is most advantageous to its production.

The first cropping of the plants is the best; after two months a second is made; after another interval a third, and even a fourth; but each of these is of diminished value.

Culture in India.—­For the following excellent account of the modes of culture, and practice, &c., in Bengal, and other parts of India, I am indebted to Mr. G. W. Johnson, one of the correspondents of my “Colonial Magazine.”  Mr. Johnson, besides his own Indian experience, has consulted all the best authorities, and the opinions of contributors to the leading periodicals of Calcutta on this important subject:—­

When America became known to Europeans, its indigo became to them a principal object of cultivation, and against their skill the native Hindostanee had nothing to oppose, but the cheapness of his simple process of manufacture.  The profit and extent of the trade soon induced Europeans to brave the perils of distance and climate to cultivate the plant in Hindostan; but these obstacles, added to the superior article manufactured by the French and Spaniards in the West Indies, would long have held its produce in India in subordination, if the anarchy and wars incident to the French Revolution, especially when they reached St. Domingo, had not almost annihilated the trade from the West, and consequently proportionally fostered that in the East.  The indigo produce of St. Domingo was nearly as large as that of all the other West India islands together.  From the time that the negroes revolted in that island, the cultivation of indigo has increased in Hindostan, until it has become one of its principal exports, and the quality of the article manufactured is not inferior to that of any other part of the world.

The most general mode of obtaining the necessary supply of weed, as it is called