American Indigo.

Scientific American 5, 20.10.1849

The Indigo plant in [is?] a native of South Carolina and it grew spontaneously among its weeds and woods. More than one hundred years ago the planters there commenced its cultivation. In the year 1748 South Carolina exported to Great Britain 200,000 pounds and the Parliament granted a bounty of 12 cents per Lb. to induce its greater cultivation. In 1748 when that ordinance was passed, Indigo was one of the staples of South Carolina, and we believe of Georgia also. Now in 1849 not a single pound of Indigo is raised in South Carolina, or as far as we know, in all the South. A plant, which is indigenous to that region, and which in its early cultivation was exceeding profitable, has been driven from existence by the cheap labor of India. Great Britain now pays seven million of dollars a year for Indigo raised in India.

[The above we derive from an exchange, and we must say that we don't believe it. A great deal of indigo is raised for domestic dyeing in South Carolina, and other of our Southern States.]