14^ 



best results need not be expected ; fine thin wrapper leaf only is 

 desirable, climate is essential to the growing of wrapper leaf, and 

 as this cannot be modified by artificial means, we must seek a 

 district where the temperature and moisture are similar to that of 

 Sumatra— warm and humid. We have such districts in Jamaica 

 in Temple Hall and Upper Clarendon, where it is safe to advocate 

 the cultivation of this valuable crop. 



Time for Planting. 



Sumatra wrapper tobacco should be grown in the ordinary to- 

 bacco season, November and December to March and April. At 

 Hope the seeds were sown on the 2nd September, 1904, under 

 cloth, the seedlings planted out under the tent from the 1st Novem- 

 ber, were moulded from the 1 8th November, and reached a height 

 of 9 feet in 58 days. The first ripe leaves were picked on the ilth 

 January, 1 905, 131 days from date of sowing, the average maxi- 

 mum temperature in the tent during the growth of the plants was 

 90° taken daily at 3 p.m., the minimum temperature taken at 7 a.m. 

 daily was 66°. Planting should commence not earlier than 3 

 o'clock in the afternoon on sunny days, but on a cloudy, light 

 showery day, planting should be carried on during the whole day. 

 If there is no rain when planting begins, sufficient water must be 

 poured into each hole, and the newly planted seedlings should be 

 watered every day after sunset. The plants are set out at a dis- 

 tance of 15 inches apart, in rows 3 feet apart, running from north 

 to south. At distances of 3 feet by 15 inches, an acre should con- 

 tain 11,600 plants. 



Cultivation. 



Plants require 5 or 6 days to take root, after which cultivation 

 should be begun and continued frequently until the plants get so 

 large that further cultivation is liable to damage the leaves. In 

 order to insure rapid growth the ground should be constantly 

 stirred, cultivation will stop about the time the plants begin to 

 button, at this stage the soil is so shaded that it will not become 

 baked hindering the feeding of the surface roots. 



Harvesting. 

 When the plants are not topped they grow to the height of the 

 tent, and the blossoms often push up the shade cloth at a height of 

 9 feet from the ground ; suckers should be removed, so as 

 to throw the strength into the main plant. Wrapper leaf tobacco 

 should be primed, i.e. the leaves gathered as they ripen ; this 

 needs considerable judgment and practice on the part of the grower; 

 the leaves ought to be pulled when slight indications of a brownish 

 colour appear round the edges of the leaf, and on the tip, occa- 

 sional spots will appear at other places on the surface. The ordi- 

 nary indications of ripeness which governs tobacco grown in the 

 open fields, — such as yellow blotches, curling of the leaf, and the 

 snapping of the midrib when bent, will not apply to shade grown 

 tobacco. By experiment at Hope it is advised to harvest the leaf 

 at an early stage of ripeness. By going over the field in this way 

 and picking the leaves as they ripen, the leaves are of a uniform 



