ency 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