March i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



711 



TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN THE WEST INDIES. 



For some years past the superior quality of the to- 

 bacco grown in Jamaica has been steadily forcing itself 

 on public recognition, and Jamaica cigars seem likely to 

 take rank alongside those produced in Cuba, which, taking 

 their name from the capital of that island, have come 

 to be recognised as the type of excellence in this parti- 

 cular form of the "fragrant weed." The eultivatiou of 

 tobacco was an industry of some importance in the Lesser 

 as well as the Greater Antilles, but it has died out in 

 the former, tliough that is no apparent reason why the 

 eultivatiou of the plant should not be revived there. The 

 Plant has been introduced from Cuba into the Baliamas, 

 where it promised excellent results — although it would 

 appear that, probably owing to the expense of initiating 

 the industry, the Government has not continued the 

 experiments — and Governor Robinson, struck with the 

 similarity between the climate, soil, and rainfall of Cuba 

 and those of St. Lucia, has induced the Legislative 

 Council of the latter island to vote a sum of money 

 with the object of introducing the " new product " iuto 

 the Colony. A " Tobacco Committee " has been appointed 

 to enquire into the subject, and the result of their in- 

 vestigation is embodied in a report which has just been 

 pubhshed. Some seed of the " best Havana tobacco " — 

 procured, it is interesting to note, from the Botanical 

 Gardens of .Tamaica — was entrusted to four gentlemen, 

 who undertook to give it a fair trial; and although it 

 is too early yet to judge of the eventual results of the 

 experiment, the seed is reported to have germinated and 

 to be progressing favourably, and there seems every 

 reason to anticipate a succe.ssful result. There is in St. 

 Lucia an abuudance of soil of a suitable nature, with 

 ample shide and rain, and many different " aspects," 

 while the whole climate and physical features of the 

 island approximate very closely to those of Cuba. The 

 principal difficulty, indeed, in the way, seems to lie in 

 the proper curing of the leaf. Sir .Joseph Hooker en- 

 dorses Governor Robinson's statement, that the finest 

 tobacco in the world may be spoiled by improper or 

 inefficient curing ; and he quotes an instance in wliich 

 ten bales of Ceylon tobacco, sent recently to the London 

 market as an experiment, fetched a low price in con- 

 soquence of the centres having been decomposed during the 

 voyage, through some defect of curing or packing. With 

 the care with which Governor Robinson and the authorities 

 of St. Lucia have gone into the matter, there is Uttle 

 fear of such a mistake being made there, and their ex- 

 periment will be watched with interest in the Colonies. 

 Tobacco requires a soil rich in potash, and while calca- 

 reous and clayey soils are to be avoided, alluvial lands 

 on the banks of streams, not too wet, are the most 

 favourable. Plenty of manure is required, as the plant 

 rapidly exhausts the soil ; but chlorides must be scrupul- 

 ously avoided. Slow desiccation, without exposure to 

 sun or wind, and sound fermentation, are the two main 

 points to be observed in the preparation of the leaf for 

 the market. — Colonies and India, 



OSTRICHES. OLIVES, AND WATTLES. 



TO THE EDITOB, ADELAIDE ORSEHVER. 



Sir—" Beggars must not be choosers," so I suppose 

 that the applicants to our Government at whose suit the 

 Ostrich IniUistry Bill was introduced must be contented 

 with what they have got — such as it is. The Parliament 

 in its wisdom has seen fit to restrict selection of land 

 for ostrich-farming purposes to the areas that are cut 

 up iuto " hundreds." The wi.se.acres who insi.sted on the 

 latter provision evidently failed to perceive that in en- 

 forcing it they defeated one of the chief objects con- 

 templated by the pioneers of the measure, and that object 

 was to utilize the wide stretches of our Far Northern 

 lands which were either partially .or wholly unfit for 

 either pastoral or agricultural purposes, but which were 

 in many respects admirably suited to the needs and re- 

 quirements of the ostrich. In fact, I have persistently 

 maintained ever since I first brought the ostrich subject 

 before the public, and then into the hands of the Go- 

 vernment, that where water for irrigating a few acres 

 could be found, the latitude and the general peculiarities 



of the Far North were eminently adapted to the purposes 

 in hand. The wide stretch of country, for instance, 

 lying on the northern and southern banks of the Murray 

 from Morgan to the boundary of New South 'V\'ales, 

 which, I believe, supports only about one sheep to the 

 eight acres, is as it is, shut iqj from the ostrich-farmer, 

 whose returns from the same acreage, as compared to 

 returns from sheep, would have been immeasurably great, 

 as, of course, he couI<l have pumped up any amount of 

 water from the river, and in the twenty-one years allowed 

 him be enabled to turn a howling desert into a smiling 

 paradise, as good authorities wlio know that region well 

 tell me that the rod sand yields abundantly when watered, 

 as has indeed been evidenced by the luxuriance of flowers, 

 vegetables, &c., where the water has beer) pumped up 

 near the North-West Bend. 



By opposing the Ostrich Bill what a golden chance 

 some of omr squatters have lost ! A chance not only of 

 benefiting themselves (which patriots think not of), but 

 of greatly enriching the resources of this colony. Had 

 the Bill remained untouched as it came from the hands 

 of the Government what was to prevent any squatter 

 from securing the stationhouse on his run with 5.000 

 acres round it for twenty-one years by importing the few 

 birds required by the Bill? I fancy there will be 

 some vain regrets about the loss of this opportunity. 

 By means of the water, which could in any quantity be 

 pumped up from the Murray, the land on it, with its 

 splendid river frontage, would, with the costly improve- 

 ments which doubtless would spring up, in twenty-one 

 years' time be simply invaluable. 



And speaking about improvements, it now almost be- 

 comes my duty, especially in the present state of some 

 of our staple industries, to again respectfully draw the 

 attention of the public to the great desirability of mingl- 

 ing the three industries hinted at at the top of this 

 letter. I allude to ostrichfarming blended with olive and 

 wattle tree growing. The combination, if a charming 

 one, is certainly a most practical one. and if the picture 

 happens to be presented in florid tints it is nevertheless 

 based on sustaining colours. Excellent authorities say 

 that both trees will thrive anywhere within about 2 10 

 miles of the seaboard where water in quantity sufficient 

 for irrigation can be obtained. It is not desirable to 

 keep ostriches amongst trees, as contact with them 

 spoils the feathers, but it is highly necessary to have nu- 

 merous belts of trees to protect them from the cold 

 winds and rains. Imagine then — and it is imagining what 

 is soberly feasible — imagine three out of the five thousand 

 acres of tlie ostrich-farm cut up into hundreds of runs 

 and camps for the birds, and each run and camp having 

 quadruple rows of olive trees round them. Tlie ostriches, 

 it is well known, eat the refuse olives with avidity, and, 

 of course, the good ones, if they can get them, and it 

 is also known that the fruit acts as a preventive to a 

 disease that the ostrich is very subject to, 7. e., constipa- 

 tion. Three thousand acres being thus utilized, the 

 other two thousand — along the banks of the river if 

 possible — could be devoted to wattle-growing. These trees 

 are now, I believe, more valuable than ever, that is to 

 say since a mode has been discovered of taking the 

 bark, or rather the tan, without destroying tho tree. 

 You must agree with me. Sir. when I humbly venture 

 to repeat that the idea is a harmonious amalgamation 

 of the fflsthetical and the utilitarian. 



Reverting to the Ostrich Industry Bill for a moment, 

 I may say that I was naturally somewhat amused at a 

 declaimer against mere " speculators " saying in Par- 

 liament that if anyone deserved encouragement it was 

 Sir Thomas Elder for introducing camels here. I am at 

 liberty to say that the latter gentleman was an applicant 

 for land for ostrich purposes at the identical moment — 

 the same patriotic spirit animating him in the one case 

 as in the other. It is really a pity for the country 

 that the Houses interfered so much with the I'ill. It 

 has taken me some fifteen months by dint of hard letter 

 writting and fluent oral persuasion to get some of our 

 capitalists even to took at the ostrich business — some 

 gentlemen didn't even know what an ostrich was I — and 

 yet now that they actually are prepared to put their capital 

 into a novel, and, therefore, risky, venture, and natundly 

 want some little encouragement, the troublesome pulilic 



