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An essay is presented which explores the efforts of the East Indian Company to develop a trade sector based on cochineal in southern India and Bengal during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Particular focus is given to failures of the East India Company in adopting the processes used in Mexico, wherein cochineal was used to produce textile dyes, to India. Other topics include British zoologist Joseph Banks, agricultural transplantation, and variations of the cochineal insect.

The article discusses the importance of the Indian saltpeter (potassium nitrate) trade to the rise of the British Empire between 1600 and 1800. The increasing demand for saltpeter as the main ingredient in gunpowder resulted in the eventual militarization of the East India Company as a means of increasing control over the market for this valuable war material. The origins of the Indian saltpeter trade are analyzed and traced through merchants and brokers in Patna, India. The saltpeter monopoly created by the East India Company is described as altering every aspect of nitrate production and marketing. The direct impact the availability of potassium nitrate had on major European military campaigns during this period is discussed.