6l 



interest to those who are engaged in the cultivation of this tobacco 

 in Jamaica : — 



Many thanks for Bulletin of July, 1905, which I have read with 

 interest. I have further received your letter of the 1 2th October 

 and in reply to your query re fermentation. 



A light coloured leaf in Sumatra tobacco by no means implies 

 want of fermentation. Most of the cigar manufacturers are under 

 the impression that fermentation darkens the leaf, which it does 

 of heavy tobacco, but a certain proportion of Deli leaf is very 

 light coloured (L. sorting mark) and sells at the highest price for 

 the American's in the Amsterdam market. 



My experience is that a cigar manufacturer of course knows 

 whether a leaf suits him or what its faults are, but when they try 

 to find a reason or suggest a remedy for these faults, they are at 

 sea, because they have no experience as growers. 



Twenty* tons is a good weight of Sumatra leaf to ferment ; less 

 would probably be insufficiently fermented, therefore this to- 

 bacco is not a poor man's business. 



With regard to your Bulletin, which is of great interest to me, 

 you may like to have the following notes, but having no experience 

 of your climate or soil, of course they must be considered merely 

 in the light of Sumatra and African experience, and for this reason 

 may not be of great value. 



Topping — I see you did not top apparently, but let the plants 

 flower. If 1 remember aright, this was done also in the Connecti- 

 cut Valley ; it was also tried in Deli about 1 897, but abandoned in 

 favour of the old plan of topi^ng, as it was found the leaf by not 

 topping was too papery to work, also the lengths were poor. 



Age of plant when harvested — The quicker the growth the finer the 

 leaf of course. In Deli, lOO to 1 10 days, from date of sowing to 

 harvesting, is the rule. 



Curing— Yonrs is the first attempt I have seen to grapple with 

 the problem of too rapid curing in the Bam ; a state of affairs which 

 seems to prevail everywhere I have tried Sumatra tobacco, except 

 in the very moist atmosphere of Sumatra itself. 



Here we ran three streams in furrows through the C. Bams. day 

 and night while the tobacco was curing, also watered the floor 

 heavily, with however but little effect ; the dry bulb of Psychro- 

 meter still showed 10^ and 12 difference to the wet one, conse- 

 quently the leaf cured blotchy. 



I should like to try the method of hanging the cloth round Bam 

 but should think it expensive. I note you partly sweated the leaf 

 on floor before hanging to turn it yellow. Perhaps in your cli- 

 mate this may do well, but in Deli we were specially warned 

 against this, as " green sweat" is said to give the leaf an acrid 

 flavour, impossible to eradicate by fermentation. 



* A press of half a ton of Havana tobacco ferments well, and if part of this, say 

 90 lbs., be Sumatra, the latter is fern ented. Editor. 



