HISTORY OF INDIAN INDIGO.

497

In 1877-78, the total export of indigo from all India was Indigo 120,605 cwts., valued at £3,494,334; in 1878-79, 105,051 exports. cwts., valued at £2,960,463. In 1882-83, the export of indigo was 141,041 cwts., of the value of £3,912,997.

In Bengal, indigo is usually grown on low-lying lands, with System of indigosandy soil, and liable to annual inundation; in Behar, on planting. comparatively high land. A common practice is for the planter to obtain from the zamindár or landlord a lease of the whole village area for a term of years; and then to require the rayats or cultivators to grow indigo on a certain portion of their farms every year, under a system of advances. The seed, of which an excellent kind comes from Cawnpur, is generally sown about March; and the crop is ready for gathering by the beginning of July. A second crop is sometimes obtained in September. When cut, the leaves are taken to the factory, to be steeped in large vats for about ten hours until the process of fermentation is completed. The water is then run off into a second vat, and subjected to a brisk beating, the effect of which is to separate the particles of dye and cause them to settle at the bottom. Finally, the sediment is boiled, strained, and made up into cakes for the Calcutta market. In recent years, steam has been introduced into the factories for two purposes: to maintain an equable temperature in the vats while the preliminary process of fermentation is going on, and to supersede by machinery the manual labour of beating.

In the middle of the present century, the abuses connected Indigowith indigo-planting became a serious problem for the Indian planting in Bengal ; Legislature. In some Districts, particularly in Lower Bengal, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, indigo-planting was worked by a system of advances to the cultivators which plunged them into a state of hopeless hereditary indebtedness to the planters. The Land Law of 1859 (Act x.), by defining and improving the legal status of the cultivator throughout Bengal, gave a death-blow to this system in Districts in which it had been abused. The results on indigo-planting in several Districts around Calcutta have been described in a previous paragraph. The system pursued in Behar had, from an early period, in Behar. been different. Instead of compelling the cultivator to give up his best lands to indigo by the pressure of hereditary indebtedness, the Behar planters to a large extent obtained lands of their own on lease, or by purchase, and cultivated at their own risk, or by hired labour. This system has, however, its own complications, and for a time gave rise to strained relations between the planters, the native landholders, and the tenants.

VOL. VI.

2 I

Behar

Indigo
Planters'

Associa

tion.

Opium,

and

Malwá.

In 1877, the Government of Bengal expressed dissatisfaction at the condition of the Indigo Districts of Behar, and proposed to issue a Commission of Inquiry. A responsible Association was, however, formed by the planters themselves, in communication with the Bengal Government, to readjust, as far as necessary, the relations between the planters, native landholders, and cultivators. The Association thus formed has been productive of much good, both by preventing the occurrence of disputes, and by arbitrating between the parties when disputes arise. In 1881, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal publicly thanked the Association for its 'most cordial and loyal co-operation in correcting the abuses which he had occasion to mention in 1877.' The Annual Reports from the District Officers since that year have been satisfactory. During 1884, the Secretary to the Association stated that every dispute referred to the Association had been amicably adjusted. The relations between capital and labour and land in overcrowded tracts, almost entirely dependent on the local crops raised, are, however, always apt to be strained.

The opium of commerce is grown and manufactured in two special tracts: (1) the valley of the Ganges round Patna and Benares; and (2) a fertile table-land in Central India, corresponding to the old kingdom of Málwá, for the most part still under the rule of native chiefs, among whom Sindhia and Holkar rank in Bengal first. In Málwá, the cultivation of poppy is free, and the duty is levied as the opium passes through the British Presidency of Bombay; in Bengal, the cultivation is a Government monopoly. Opium is also grown for local consumption throughout Rajputána, and to a very limited extent in the Punjab and the Central Provinces. Throughout the rest of India it is absolutely prohibited. In the Ganges valley, the cultivation is supervised from two agencies, with their head-quarters at Patná and Gházípur, at which two towns alone the manufacture is conducted.

in Rájputána.

Bengal In the year 1872, the Bengal area under poppy was out-turn; 560,000 acres; the number of chests of opium sold was 1872; 42,675; the sum realized was £6,067,701, giving a net revenue of £4,259,376. The whole of this was exported from Calcutta to China and the Straits Settlements. In and 1883. 1882-83, the number of chests of Bengal opium sold was 56,400, the sum realized was £7,103,925, the net revenue being £4,821,712. The amount of opium exported from Bombay raises the average exports of opium to about 11 or 12 millions sterling, of which about 7 or 8 millions represents net profit to Government. In 1878-79, 91,200 chests of opium

OPIUM MANUFACTURE.

499

Indian

were exported from India, of the value of £12,993,985, of Total which £7,700,000 represented the net profit to Government. out-turn. In 1882-83, 91,798 chests of Bengal and Málwá opium were exported, of the value of £11,481,379, of which £7,216,778 represented the net profit to Government.

system:

Under the Bengal system, annual engagements are entered Bengal into by the cultivators to sow a certain quantity of land with opium poppy; and it is a fundamental principle that they may engage or refuse to engage, as they please. As with most other Indian industries, a pecuniary advance is made to the cultivator advances. before he commences operations, to be deducted when he delivers over the opium at the subordinate agencies. He is compelled to make over his whole produce, being paid at a fixed rate, according to quality. The best soil for poppy is high land which can be easily manured and irrigated. The cultivation requires much attention throughout. From the commencement cultivaof the rains in June until October, the ground is prepared by repeated ploughing, weeding, and manuring. The seed is sown in the first fortnight of November, and several waterings are necessary before the plant reaches maturity in February.

tion;

After the plant has flowered, the first process is to remove manufacthe petals, which are preserved, to be used afterwards as ture. coverings for the opium-cakes. The juice is then collected. during the month of March, by scarifying the capsules in the afternoon with an iron instrument, and scraping off the exudation next morning. The quality of the drug mainly depends upon the skill with which this operation is performed. In the beginning of April, the cultivators bring in their opium. to the subordinate agencies, where it is examined and weighed, and the accounts are settled. The final process of preparing the drug in balls for the Chinese market is conducted at the two central agencies at Patná and Gházípur. This generally lasts until the end of July, but the balls are not dry enough to be packed in chests until October.

areas.

Tobacco is grown in every District of India for local con- Tobacco sumption. The soil and climate are favourable; but the quality of native cured tobacco is so inferior, as to scarcely find a market in Europe. The principal tobacco-growing tracts are Chief Rangpur and Tirhut in Bengal, Kaira in Bombay, the delta of tobacco the Godávarí, and Coimbatore and Madura Districts in Madras. The two last-mentioned Districts supply the raw material for the well-known Trichinopoli cheroot,' almost the only form of Indian tobacco that finds favour with Europeans; the produce of the lankás or alluvial islands in the Godávarí is manufactured into 'Coconadas.' The tobacco of Northern Bengal is largely

Tobacco

trade; 1877;

exported to British Burma; for the Burmese, who are great smokers, do not grow sufficient for their own needs. The manufacture of tobacco in Madras, Burma, and Bengal, is now making progress under European supervision, and promises to supply an important new staple in the exports of India.

In 1876-77, the total registered imports of tobacco into Calcutta from the inland Districts were 521,700 maunds, valued at £261,000, of which more than half came from the single District of Rangpur. Tobacco is also grown for export in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The tobacco of Tirhut is chiefly exported towards the west. The total area under tobacco in that District is estimated at 40,000 acres, the best quality being grown in and 1883. parganá Saressa of the Tájpur Sub-division. In 1882-83, the imports of tobacco from the inland Districts into Calcutta were 650,583 maunds, of an estimated value of £540,601.

Tobaccocuring.

Uncertainty of Indian crop

During the past ten years, a private firm, backed by Govern. ment support, has been growing tobacco in Northern India. and manufacturing it for the European market. The scene of its operations is two abandoned stud-farms, at Ghazipur in the North-Western Provinces, and at Pusa in Tirhut District, Bengal. In 1878-79, about 240 acres were cultivated with tobacco, the total crop being about 160,000 lbs. Five English or American curers were employed. Some of the produce was exported to England as 'cured leaf;' but the larger part was put upon the Indian market in the form of 'manufactured smoking mixture.' This mixture is in demand at regimental messes and canteens, and has also found its way to Australia. The enterprise may now be said to have passed beyond the stage of experiment. An essential condition of success is skilled supervision in the delicate process of tobacco-curing. Tobacco to the value of £128,330 was exported from India in 1878-79, and to the value of £117,156 in 1882-83.

Before proceeding to crops of a special character, such as coffee, tea, and cinchona, it may be well to give a general view of the area covered by the staples of Indian agriculture. The statistics. table on the opposite page must be taken as approximate only. It represents, however, the best information available (1882–83). Its figures show various changes from the estimates in 1875, incorporated in some of the foregoing paragraphs. But it is necessary to warn the reader, that Indian agricultural returns do not always stand the test of statistical analysis. In most cases the local returns have to be accepted without the possibility of verification; alike in the preceding pages, and in this tabular statement. Steps are now being taken to secure a higher degree of trustworthiness in such returns.

APPROXIMATE AREA IN ACRES OCCUPIED BY THE PRINCIPAL CROPS IN SOME INDIAN PROVINCES IN 1877-78

INDIAN CROP STATISTICS.

800,000 1,063,988 808,000 1,336,385 800,000 1,039,633 1,350,cco 1,600,225
1,000,000 1,456,423 1,420,000 2,640,748 660,000 860,631 840,000 612,687

* No later statistics are available for Mysore than those for 1881-82, the last year in which the State was under British administration.

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