344 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[QCTOBER I, 1882' 



INDIAN TOBACCO. 



Believing as we have done for years in the great 

 future of Indian grown tobacco, it is satisfactory to find 

 that not only the Agricultural Deijartment in this country, 

 but also some of the officials connected with the Indian 

 Museum at home, are paying special attention to this 

 most important agi-icultural product. The quantity of to- 

 bacco consumed in India must be enormous, for men, 

 women and children in most parts of the comitry all smoke, 

 and to many an ill-fed laboiu-er a few pulls at a chiUina 

 answer the purpose of a light meal in staving off hunger 

 for the time, and enabling him to continue his work with 

 renewed vigour. The anti-tobacconists, like their fellow 

 fanatics the anti-opiumites, never take into consideration 

 the great beneiits conferred on many millions of the human 

 race by these solaces to their afflictions, in their zeal to 

 denounce the injury inflicted on a few by over indulgence 

 in what is in nine cases out of ten in this country a positive 

 necessity. We have no hesitation in saying, and experience 

 in supervising large numbers of natives at work enables us 

 to write with some authority, that without his tobacco an 

 Indian labourer would do even less work than he does at 

 present. Ask any large employer of labour in Indian 

 mills what the hands do when they are allowed out from 

 work for a few minutes, and he will tell you that they at 

 once dart off for a smoke. The dust of the mills not- 

 withstanding, the drink of water is a secondary consider- 

 ation. So tobacco may rightly be classed as quite as great 

 a necessity of life to the poorer classes of natives as salt. 

 Providence also seems to have had some such ideas when 

 it is found that there are but few parts of India in which 

 tobacco will not and does not grow. The native certainly 

 is not very choice as regards the llavoOT of his tobacco ; 

 he wiU smoke anything so long as it has the shghtest sus- 

 picion of taste of the flagrant weed, whilst the richer 

 classes mix up the tobacco for their hookas with jaggery, 

 spices, rosewater, &c., untU even the remotest flavour ot 

 the genuine article has vanished. All this, however, only 

 goes to show the enormous consumption of tobacco in 

 the country at present. 



The object of the Agricultural Department is to make 

 tobacco an important item amongst our Indian exports. 

 Messrs. Begg, Dunlop & Co., in their tobacco mamifactory 

 at Poosa, have shown what can be done in this direction 

 by well selected seed, careful cultivation, attention to the 

 drying and preparation ot t)ie leaves and careful manufacture. 

 Specimens of tobacco sent home by them have realised a 

 handsome profit, and been pronounced equal to the best 

 American samples. There is no reason why, with the out- 

 lay of the necessary capital, others should not follow in 

 their wake. 



Until this is done the export trade of Indian tobacco 

 will remain, as it is at present, about nil — in tact the re- 

 port of Mr. J. K. Eoyle, of the Indian House, on " the 

 cultivation and manufacture of tobacco in France," now 

 before us, tells us, that in 1S81 only ten bales of East 

 Indian tobacco, valued at about £20, were sold in London 

 for home dehvery; that fifty years ago better tobacco 

 came from India than at present; and that, in fact, East 

 Indian is the lowest priced tobacco in the London Market. 

 The experience of Messrs. Begg, Dunlop & Co.'s shipments 

 shows that this need not continue to be the case. The 

 increased demand at home for so-called Burma, as well 

 as Mailras-made cheroots, show that the public are acquir- 

 ing a taste for Indian-grown tobacco, even as they have 

 for Indian tea. AVe are conviueed that there is as good 

 an opening for one as for the other. The report now be- 

 fore us contains translations by Mr. Eoyle of " A report 

 on the cultivation of tobacco in the Pas de Calais, by M. 

 Grojean ; "Notes on tobacco cultivation," by M. Javin; 

 " Instructions concerning tobacco cultivation," by M. Schlces- 

 ing; and an account of the apparatus and processes em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of tobacco in the French State 

 jmanufactories. What .strikes one on reading these reports 

 s the great care shown in every process connected with 

 the growth of the plant and its manufacture. The planter 

 is never left to himself for many days together, but is 

 constantly receiving visits from the local inspectors, who 

 supply him with the only seed he is allowed to grow, 

 and advise him in every detail connected with the cul- 

 tivation and curing. 



We are afraid that such constant supervision might lead 

 to abuses in this country. 



The most interesting prat of the report to us in this 

 country is a Memorandum by Kumar Gojendra Narayan, 

 of Kuch Behar, contrasting the cultivation and drying of 

 tobacco in the Pas de Calais with that adopted in Isere 

 and Savoy. This shows an intelhgent study and imder- 

 staudiug of the subject which deserves the highest praise, 

 and sets a good example to other native landholders. The 

 Kumar is at present agricultural manager of the Eaj of 

 his brother, of Kuch Behar, and as a large quantity of 

 tobacco is grown in that State, we hope soon to see good 

 results from his practical experience. The agricultural 

 products of the State should also generally improve under 

 his practical supervision. 



It is a sad reflection on the agricultural enterprise of 

 this country as regards tobacco when we find that the 

 Dutch only began growing tobacco in Sumatra about twelve 

 years ago, and that in ISSO they sold in Holland 57,000 

 bales, producing nearly one million sterling. During the 

 same period they sold 5,000 bales of East Indian tobacco, 

 producing about 1/. per bale. — Asian. 



AGEICDLTUKE IN INDIA. 



From an agricultural point of view, the fact cannot be 

 overlooked that very little attention has been paid up to 

 now to what may be called the marginal resources of the 

 agricultural population, i.e., the means of livelihood and 

 support which the country can afford, irrespective of the 

 produce of cultivated land. As commercial demands and 

 home con,sumption have gone on increasing, every eflfort 

 has been made, especially in the populated regions, to en- 

 courage the extension of the cultivated area to the gradual 

 diminution of the forest and grazing tracts. Land has been 

 given away or disposed of ou v»ry easy terms, canal water 

 has been sold at very low prices, and the right of possession 

 of common lands by Government has been abandoned to 

 private owners without any reservation. One consequence 

 of the gradual absorption of the forest or jungle lands 

 of the plains of India has been that in a drought or general 

 failure of a harvest the poorer section of the population 

 ai'e dejirived of the resources of food upon which history 

 shows that they had been accustomed to fall back upon 

 in times of famine. Another has been a fatal destruction 

 of cattle, which, depending, as they now do, so very 

 largely upon field-grown fodder, are, in seasons when harvests 

 fail, left almost completely without food. These consequences 

 have befallen, and will befall the cultivators and their 

 cattle, %vith as much certainty as droughts and scarcities 

 are known to recur. A third consequence is that in 

 oriUnary seasons cattle have barely enough fodder during 

 the hot months which precede the advent of the monsoon 

 rains, and cultivators have, at ail times, to use cowduug 

 more and more largely as fuel, to the detriment of the 

 soil, which in consequence receives no manure. Wood, it 

 is true, can never entirely take the place of cowdung 

 which is found to be the best kind of fuel for native 

 cookery ; but this truth lies within certain hmits only, and 

 there is no doubt that, if wood could be had at cheap 

 rates and in ample quantities, the use of cowdung as fuel 

 would become more and more restricted, for the cultivators 

 and well aware ot the necessity of manure for their lands, 

 and the usefulness of cowdung in supplying this necessity. 



The first criticism passed by all competent experts on 

 the agricultural system of India is, that the area under 

 cultivation is out of all proportion to the manure-supply; 

 and Mr. James Oaird, in his pamphlet on the " Condition 

 of Incha," has expressed his opinion that it is unsafe to 

 break up more of the uncultivated poor-land, as the 

 diminution ot pasture thereby already caused is showing 

 its effect in a lessening proportion of working cattle for 

 an increasing area of cultivation. 



In these circumstances the provision of village fodder 

 and fuel reserves has become an imperative necessity, and 

 the Eevenue and Agricultural Department, while consider- 

 ing the question of proWding for the agricultural requirements 

 of the coimtry, appcaj-s to have seen the necessity. It 

 has accordingly asked the Forest Department to inform 

 it of the steps which it can take to assist in placing a 

 system of village reserves ou a proper footing. As soon 

 as Provincial Departments of Agriculture are established 



