Vol. III. No. GS. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



•379 



JAMAICA TOBACCO. 



As was briefly stated in the A(jrieidtur<d Nrws 

 (Vol. Ill, p. 300), upon the suggestion of the Imperial 

 Conimissioner of Agriculture Mr. F. V. Chalmers 

 recently visited Jamaica to report upon the position of 

 the tobacco industry. The following is Mr. Chalmers' 

 report to the Colonial Secretary : — 



Generally ><i)eaking I find the tobacco of good quality 

 and flavour, but the majority of the leaves are of a heavy 

 nature ; consequently from a commercial point of view such 

 tobacco cannot compete with other productions for the 

 purposes of cigar wrapper in particular and for cigar 

 purposes generally, because when tobacco is of a heavy 

 nature it is obvious that the weight of a given number of 

 leaves is greater than when the tobacco is of a finer texture. 

 This is a most imijortant point when competing with 

 a country like Great Britain where the duty is very high. 

 The quality of the tobacco, that is to say, the flavour or 

 aroma, is in nearly every instance excellent. 



The foregoing remarks apply to the great proportion of 

 the tobacco now being produced, but I think that if more 

 attention were given to the soil upon which this tobacco is 

 grown, so that it was made of a lighter nature, a finer and 

 a lighter tobacco from every point of view might be produced. 

 It nuist always be remembered that toljacco cannot be produced 

 or determined by a chemical analysis. The quality of some 

 vegetable productions is largely decided by a determination of 

 its starch, such as the potato or maize, and other percentages, 

 but the quality of tobacco aiipears to be determined only by the 

 .senses of man; colour, texture, aroma, and combustiljilityare the 

 points by which the quality of tobacco is estimated. Organic 

 and inorganic salts seem to have considerable effect on these 

 qualities. The organic com[iounds seem to bear a closer 

 relation to the aroma of the tobacco, while on the inorganic 

 salts depends largely the combustibility. A large proportion 

 of potash in the tobacco improves the burning, and when 

 potash is present in the form of a carbonate the laest results 

 are obtained. The growers of Ijright tobacco find that the 

 tobacco grown on the land iunnediately after the ploughing 

 under of a leguminous crop is deficient in texture and colour. 

 The bright tobacco planters frequently allow their land to grow 

 lip to grass and weeds for a year and plough this under that 

 they may have the land in the best condition for a fine crop, 

 but this is a system applied to the production of American 

 tobacco, namely, Virginia, which is of a strong nature and 

 might not apply for the production of a line cigar leaf, but 

 the value of wood-ashes as a rule can be safely relied upon as 

 a good expedient. 



I now come to the shade-grown tobacco which has been 

 produced at Hope Garderis, and I am pleased to be able to 

 report that, with one or two objections in the leaf, the product 

 has every appearance when perfected of being a type of 

 tobacco which is hardly likely for the purpose of cigar 

 manufacturing, principally from a wrapper point of view, 

 to be excelled by any other tobacco of the world, and 

 from the estimate i)repared by the Hon. W. Fawcett 

 of the cost of such production in my opinion a very 

 lucrative industry should arise in -lamaica. But let me 

 clearly say that the tobacco nuist be produced in a thin, good 

 colour, that is to say, a light, level colour, free from spots 

 and of a strong texture, and last and by no means least, 

 a positive knowledge as to fermentation must be applied or 

 the whole proceeding will be a failure, because two fatal 

 conditions will arise, viz., the flavour or aroma of the 

 tobacco will not be perfect and the tobacco will be tender 



and on account of its extreme thinness very liable to break 

 and consequently would be useless as a cigar wrapper. 



Tobacco that is essentially grown for the pnirpose of 

 wrapper is in nearly every instance the least good for any 

 other part of a cigar, and furthermore, to produce a fine 

 cigar wrapper, such as I flrndy believe can be produced in 

 .Jamaica, would present a competitive (piality only to be 

 found in the very picked of Cuban productions, viz., it will 

 contain a delicious flavour, which should make it very 

 valuable indeed, more especially as it is universally admitted 

 that at the present time there was never so much tobacco 

 and it was never so b id. This remark applies in particular 

 to the whole production of Havana. 



Hitherto, as far as my e.xperienee goes, the tobacco of 

 •Jamaica has never been used as a pipe tobacco, but having 

 regard to the great depreciation of American tobaccos 

 generally and the general desire of smokers for a mixture or 

 blend of tobaccos of varying flavours, I see no reason why 

 this excellent tobacco, though of a thick nature, should not 

 form one of the ingredients in such mixtures for the pipe. 

 With that end in view it is my intention to bring the matter 

 before some of the manufacturers of Great Britain. 



GENERAL HINTS FOR THE GUIDANCE 

 OF EXHIBITORS AT SCHOOL SHOWS. 



A useful leaflet has been published by the 

 Botanical Department of Trinidad giving ' Hints for 

 the guidance of exhibitors at School Shows.' Notes as 

 to mode of packing and preparation, good qualities, 

 etc., are given for each of a large number of garden 

 crop.s — vegetables and fruits — as well as the following 

 general hints, which are likely to be welcomed by 

 school teachers and also general exhibitors : — 



Oit fruits, i.e., bananas, plantains, oranges, and tomatos 

 when ' full ' or one to two days before the date of despatch, 

 in order to ' condition ' or ' wilt ' the skin. When once 

 wilted they can be much more safely handled. Fruits such 

 as oranges and tomatos should have short stalks left 

 attached to the fruit. 



Handle all produce carefully to avoid bruising. A IjIow 

 that will break an egg will damage and destroy a fruit, 

 although its eflFect is not at once seen. If possible, each kind 

 of produce should have a separate package, but several small 

 packages may be put together in a larger one, if there is no 

 danger of bruising the produce by so doing. Vegetables 

 should be i)repared on the afternoon of the day previous to 

 the show, or as early as possible on the morning of the show- 

 day, so as to have them fresh. 



Light boxes such as those used by mustard and 

 sweetmeat manufacturers, biscuit tins, and other similar 

 receptacles would be found very useful, and a stock of these 

 with packing materials should be obtained two or luore days 

 previous to the show. 



Quality always counts more than size. Produce often 

 has a low value on account of being too large and coarse. 



Avoid staging more than the required quantity. For 

 instance, if six tomatos are required by schedule, do not 

 stage seven because yon have seven good ones, or for any 

 other reason. If doubtful of quality, exhibit separate 

 samples. Exhibitors can take only one prize in each class, 

 but they may stage three or fiiur .samples. Put small fruit 

 and vegetables on plates, with, in the case of fruit at least, 

 a few healthy leaves of the plant to which the exhibit 

 belongs. Always allow plenty of time to stage exhibits by 

 forwarding them early to the show-room. 



