Indigo, called _tom_ by the Javans, and by the _Súndas tárum_, is general, and raised in most parts of the island. The indigo prepared by the natives is of an indifferent quality, and in a semifluid state, and contains much quick-lime; but that prepared by Europeans is of very superior quality.
An inferior variety, denominated _tom-ménir_, having smaller seeds, and being of quicker growth, is usually planted as a second crop in _sáwahs_, on which one rice crop has been raised. In these situations, the plant rises to the height of about three feet and a half. It is then cut, and the cuttings are repeated three, or even four times, till the ground is again required for the annual rice crop. But the superior plant, when cultivated on _tégal_ lands, and on a naturally rich soil, not impoverished by a previous heavy crop, rises in height above five feet, and grows with the greatest luxuriance. The plants intended for seeds are raised in favoured spots on the ridges of the rice fields in the neighbourhood of the villages, and the seed of one district is frequently exchanged for that of another. That of the rich mountainous districts being esteemed of best quality, is occasionally introduced into the low lands, and is thought necessary to prevent that degeneration, which would be the consequence of cultivating for a long time the same plant upon the same soil. In the province of _Matárem_, where indigo is most extensively cultivated, it is sold in the market in bundles, as low as eight-pence the píkul weight; but in the vicinity of _Semárang_, and in districts where it is not produced in great abundance, it bears an advance upon this price of fifty per cent.
The climate, soil, and state of society on Java, seem to offer peculiar advantages to the extensive cultivation of this plant; and under the direction of skilful manufacturers, the dye stuff might form a most valuable and important export for the European market. The periodical draughts and inundations, which confine the cultivation and manufacture in the Bengal provinces to a few months in the year, are unknown in Java, where the plant might, in favoured situations, be cultivated nearly throughout the whole year, and where at least it would be secure of a prolonged period of that kind of weather, necessary for the cutting. The soil is superior, and a command of water affords facilities seldom to be met with elsewhere; while, from the tenure on which the cultivators hold their land, and the state of society among them, advances on account of the ensuing crop, which in Bengal form so ruinous a part of an indigo concern, are here unnecessary, and would be uncalled for.