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[HOUSTON] TRI-WEEKLY TELEGRAPH, January 14, 1864, p. 2, c. 2
Indigo.
The soil of the rich alluvial bottoms of Texas is peculiarly adapted to the culture of the Indigo plant, frequently attaining the height of from four to six feet, with comparatively no care in either the mode of planting or means of cultivation. Farmers who attempted its culture in Brazos county, utterly failed in procuring the dark blue precipitate in which consists its chief value. I have been informed by those who have experimented in the manufacture of Indigo in Texas, that the invariable result has been a deep green precipitate, not in a solid mass, but rather in floating follicles. To obviate this result is the principal object of this article.
It should be borne in mind that all the varieties of the indigo plant, from the Indigofera tinctoria to the Baptisia tinctoria, contains a greenish brown and greenish red coloring substance, each of which yields more readily in the process of manufacture than the deep blue. Hence great care is requisite in order to obtain the desired results.
Time of planting.—The ground should be thoroughly prepared by plowing and harrowing, run out in furrows about three feet apart, the seeds planted in drills about one foot distant from each other. This should be done as early in the spring as the temperature and condition of the soil will permit. One or two plowings between the rows will be sufficient for the season, unless the ground is quite foul with weeds or other undergrowth. New ground is preferable, when it can be had, but even in old fields there is no crop that will yield so rich a reward to the husbandman, with the same amount of labor, as the one under consideration.
Time of gathering.—When the plants are in their greatest perfection, the seeds well formed but not yet ripe, is regarded as the best time for gathering the stalks by those engaged in its culture in the East Indies as an article of commerce. Although an inferior article of Indigo is manufactured from the stalks reserved as seed bearers, after the seeds are gathered, the difference between the two articles is so marked and apparent, that the latter always commands a much less price than the former. The first is always formed in firm dense cakes, presenting upon fracture, a bright glistening blue, while the latter contains less of the blue coloring matter, and an excess of the brown. The cakes are more porous and more soluble in water, hence its inferiority.
Mode of manufacturing.—The plants having been gathered as above indicated, they are placed in large barrels or vats, and covered with rain water (no other kind of water should be used.) Our streams and wells generally contain sufficient foreign matter, either of a saline, chalybeate, or sulphuric character, sufficient in quantity to prevent the desired result. These barrels or vats should be allowed to remain in the sun. In a few days the fermentive process will commence. The stalks should be stirred up once or twice every day, from the commencement. According to the rapidity of fermentation will the stalks yield their several coloring principles to the water. The length of time which they should remain in the water is determined by the water assuming a deep green color. The stalks are now taken out, and a small quantity of lime water, or a solution of potash or salaratus [sic] is added to the water, in order to aid the precipitation of the Indigo. The water is now either decanted or drawn off by means of a faucet placed immediately above the precipitate.
This precipitate now undergoes a marked chemical change, from a bright green to a deep blue color—from a soluble substance to one that will but sparingly yield its coloring matter to either water or alcohol. This change is doubtless caused by the rapid absorption of oxygen from the air.
This precipitate is now collected, washed upon linen strainers, moulded in such shapes as fancy may dictate, placed in the sun and dried. The process is thus completed—the yield incredible, the reward abundant—the result satisfactory.
**
[HOUSTON] TRI-WEEKLY TELEGRAPH, January 21, 1864, p. 1, c. 4
Indigo No. 2.
Dr. Porcher devotes several pages to this subject, but none of the articles he quotes seem to me nearly so clear and practical as that of which I have given you a digest.
To the north of this place, some ten or a dozen miles, either near the Gegua or Davidson's creek, there is quite a patch of the native Indigo, to which the ladies for miles around have resorted for many years, for the plant to dye with. I was strongly in hopes that some of them had stumbled on a more natural process, of dyeing their thread or wool in the liquor in which the plant had been steeped, and before the process of heating; but cannot learn that this has been done.
Here again, is a stumbling block in the way—that of explaining the why and because, in simple language. This heating is for the purpose of exposing the liquor to the air, so that a chemical change may take place by the taking up of a gas from the air, by which the coloring matter is separated and can be gathered together and dried. In order to dye with the dried indigo, it must be brought back by the use of copperas, or alum or lye, to the condition in which it was before it was exposed to the air in the process of heating.
I do not intend to enter into a discussion with the ladies, and especially the old ones; who know infinitely more, practically, than I do, in this case. But I desire to use the suggestion as a test on which to remark:
That we of the South have been a very blind people! Will we ever become less so? We grow the cotton and the woo; can grow the hemp, the flax, the dyestuffs—as Indigo, Madder, Wood, &c.; and the Teazles; can make the Pot and Pearlash, the Barilla and Soda, the Sulphuric Acid; and in fact, every article used in the manufacture of cotton and wool into cloth. Yet we have, in the face of the volumes of facts published in this connection, through a long series of years, done everything in our power to continue subject to, because dependent on Yankeedom and Europe for every rag we wore, until we had cultivated the feeling of contempt on the part of the Yankees towards those to whom they naturally felt themselves infinitely superior, that has brought about this cruel and ruinous war. We have paid the heavy cost of transportation on both cotton and goods, with all the large profits made by those whose hands they passed through—an immense profit to the manufacturer—not only a legitimate profit, but derived from every possible series of rascality, by cheating in the materials used, &c.; and have also paid a big price, as the cost of bringing the baled cotton back to the condition in which it was when it left the flue of the gin-stand, when it was in a better state to make a good and strong thread, than it can ever again be brought to. And so it is and has been with wool, hides, &c.
Query.—Looking to the past, how long time will elapse after we secure our independence, politically, before we again become entirely dependent, in a commercial and manufacturing way, upon our bitter enemies, the Yankees, and our unfreens, the English and French?
But to return to our subject, Indigo: I do not think it necessary to be equally precise with the processes of draining and drying, and of pressing the Indigo. For home use it may be treated in a very simple manner. Any one proposing to engage in the crop as a business, will inform himself more fully than he can do through a newspaper article.
When the heating process is completed, the liquor must not rest until the mud or indigo settles to the bottom; when the reddish colored water must be drawn off; the mud dipped out and placed on frames, covered with close linen, hemp or even cotton cloth, to drain thoroughly; placed under cover.
It should be scraped off, and put on fresh cloths, until the mud becomes stiff enough to be placed in a box, lined with a loose cloth, and subjected to pressure; where it may remain twenty-four hours; then to be taken out and worked over in a basin with a paddle; or better if beaten in a smooth mould, in which it may be cut into squares of, say, two inches each way. These squares are then taken out and dried. If any white mould appears on the surface, it must be carefully brushed off.
There are other processes by which the coloring matter of the Indigo plant is extracted—as, by hot water, and without lime or ley, and from the dried leaves. But I will consider your limited space, and refrain.
Dr. Porcher says: "According to Lesunes, the decoction of the root possesses the property of action against poison, and is useful in nephritic diseases. In Jamaica, it is employed to destroy vermin. The leaves are alterative, and are given in nephatic disorders." These, your readers can look into their dictionaries, or consult the Doctors.
This I can add, the dried Indigo has been found a useful remedy in croup, giving so much of the powder as would lie on a dime, repeating if necessary.
The powder, moistened with water, and applied to the spot stung by a bee, or wasp, will give immediate relief.
You have had enough of blueing for this boat!
Glenblythe, Jan. 11, '64. T. A.
Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net
Indigo.
The soil of the rich alluvial bottoms of Texas is peculiarly adapted to the culture of the Indigo plant, frequently attaining the height of from four to six feet, with comparatively no care in either the mode of planting or means of cultivation. Farmers who attempted its culture in Brazos county, utterly failed in procuring the dark blue precipitate in which consists its chief value. I have been informed by those who have experimented in the manufacture of Indigo in Texas, that the invariable result has been a deep green precipitate, not in a solid mass, but rather in floating follicles. To obviate this result is the principal object of this article.
It should be borne in mind that all the varieties of the indigo plant, from the Indigofera tinctoria to the Baptisia tinctoria, contains a greenish brown and greenish red coloring substance, each of which yields more readily in the process of manufacture than the deep blue. Hence great care is requisite in order to obtain the desired results.
Time of planting.—The ground should be thoroughly prepared by plowing and harrowing, run out in furrows about three feet apart, the seeds planted in drills about one foot distant from each other. This should be done as early in the spring as the temperature and condition of the soil will permit. One or two plowings between the rows will be sufficient for the season, unless the ground is quite foul with weeds or other undergrowth. New ground is preferable, when it can be had, but even in old fields there is no crop that will yield so rich a reward to the husbandman, with the same amount of labor, as the one under consideration.
Time of gathering.—When the plants are in their greatest perfection, the seeds well formed but not yet ripe, is regarded as the best time for gathering the stalks by those engaged in its culture in the East Indies as an article of commerce. Although an inferior article of Indigo is manufactured from the stalks reserved as seed bearers, after the seeds are gathered, the difference between the two articles is so marked and apparent, that the latter always commands a much less price than the former. The first is always formed in firm dense cakes, presenting upon fracture, a bright glistening blue, while the latter contains less of the blue coloring matter, and an excess of the brown. The cakes are more porous and more soluble in water, hence its inferiority.
Mode of manufacturing.—The plants having been gathered as above indicated, they are placed in large barrels or vats, and covered with rain water (no other kind of water should be used.) Our streams and wells generally contain sufficient foreign matter, either of a saline, chalybeate, or sulphuric character, sufficient in quantity to prevent the desired result. These barrels or vats should be allowed to remain in the sun. In a few days the fermentive process will commence. The stalks should be stirred up once or twice every day, from the commencement. According to the rapidity of fermentation will the stalks yield their several coloring principles to the water. The length of time which they should remain in the water is determined by the water assuming a deep green color. The stalks are now taken out, and a small quantity of lime water, or a solution of potash or salaratus [sic] is added to the water, in order to aid the precipitation of the Indigo. The water is now either decanted or drawn off by means of a faucet placed immediately above the precipitate.
This precipitate now undergoes a marked chemical change, from a bright green to a deep blue color—from a soluble substance to one that will but sparingly yield its coloring matter to either water or alcohol. This change is doubtless caused by the rapid absorption of oxygen from the air.
This precipitate is now collected, washed upon linen strainers, moulded in such shapes as fancy may dictate, placed in the sun and dried. The process is thus completed—the yield incredible, the reward abundant—the result satisfactory.
**
[HOUSTON] TRI-WEEKLY TELEGRAPH, January 21, 1864, p. 1, c. 4
Indigo No. 2.
Dr. Porcher devotes several pages to this subject, but none of the articles he quotes seem to me nearly so clear and practical as that of which I have given you a digest.
To the north of this place, some ten or a dozen miles, either near the Gegua or Davidson's creek, there is quite a patch of the native Indigo, to which the ladies for miles around have resorted for many years, for the plant to dye with. I was strongly in hopes that some of them had stumbled on a more natural process, of dyeing their thread or wool in the liquor in which the plant had been steeped, and before the process of heating; but cannot learn that this has been done.
Here again, is a stumbling block in the way—that of explaining the why and because, in simple language. This heating is for the purpose of exposing the liquor to the air, so that a chemical change may take place by the taking up of a gas from the air, by which the coloring matter is separated and can be gathered together and dried. In order to dye with the dried indigo, it must be brought back by the use of copperas, or alum or lye, to the condition in which it was before it was exposed to the air in the process of heating.
I do not intend to enter into a discussion with the ladies, and especially the old ones; who know infinitely more, practically, than I do, in this case. But I desire to use the suggestion as a test on which to remark:
That we of the South have been a very blind people! Will we ever become less so? We grow the cotton and the woo; can grow the hemp, the flax, the dyestuffs—as Indigo, Madder, Wood, &c.; and the Teazles; can make the Pot and Pearlash, the Barilla and Soda, the Sulphuric Acid; and in fact, every article used in the manufacture of cotton and wool into cloth. Yet we have, in the face of the volumes of facts published in this connection, through a long series of years, done everything in our power to continue subject to, because dependent on Yankeedom and Europe for every rag we wore, until we had cultivated the feeling of contempt on the part of the Yankees towards those to whom they naturally felt themselves infinitely superior, that has brought about this cruel and ruinous war. We have paid the heavy cost of transportation on both cotton and goods, with all the large profits made by those whose hands they passed through—an immense profit to the manufacturer—not only a legitimate profit, but derived from every possible series of rascality, by cheating in the materials used, &c.; and have also paid a big price, as the cost of bringing the baled cotton back to the condition in which it was when it left the flue of the gin-stand, when it was in a better state to make a good and strong thread, than it can ever again be brought to. And so it is and has been with wool, hides, &c.
Query.—Looking to the past, how long time will elapse after we secure our independence, politically, before we again become entirely dependent, in a commercial and manufacturing way, upon our bitter enemies, the Yankees, and our unfreens, the English and French?
But to return to our subject, Indigo: I do not think it necessary to be equally precise with the processes of draining and drying, and of pressing the Indigo. For home use it may be treated in a very simple manner. Any one proposing to engage in the crop as a business, will inform himself more fully than he can do through a newspaper article.
When the heating process is completed, the liquor must not rest until the mud or indigo settles to the bottom; when the reddish colored water must be drawn off; the mud dipped out and placed on frames, covered with close linen, hemp or even cotton cloth, to drain thoroughly; placed under cover.
It should be scraped off, and put on fresh cloths, until the mud becomes stiff enough to be placed in a box, lined with a loose cloth, and subjected to pressure; where it may remain twenty-four hours; then to be taken out and worked over in a basin with a paddle; or better if beaten in a smooth mould, in which it may be cut into squares of, say, two inches each way. These squares are then taken out and dried. If any white mould appears on the surface, it must be carefully brushed off.
There are other processes by which the coloring matter of the Indigo plant is extracted—as, by hot water, and without lime or ley, and from the dried leaves. But I will consider your limited space, and refrain.
Dr. Porcher says: "According to Lesunes, the decoction of the root possesses the property of action against poison, and is useful in nephritic diseases. In Jamaica, it is employed to destroy vermin. The leaves are alterative, and are given in nephatic disorders." These, your readers can look into their dictionaries, or consult the Doctors.
This I can add, the dried Indigo has been found a useful remedy in croup, giving so much of the powder as would lie on a dime, repeating if necessary.
The powder, moistened with water, and applied to the spot stung by a bee, or wasp, will give immediate relief.
You have had enough of blueing for this boat!
Glenblythe, Jan. 11, '64. T. A.
Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net
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