266 



and a half months from the date of sowing. The tent proved to 

 be the most expensive part of the experiment costing £39 9s. jd. 

 the labour bill came to £3 8s. 3d. 



Mr. T. J. Harris says that " it must be remembered that in con- 

 ducting an experiment of this kind, a great many difificulties have 

 to be overcome, and in this case the only one that was beyond us 

 was the controlling of the atmospheric conditions in the curing- 

 house during the drying of the tobacco ; it was thought that ade- 

 quate measures had been taken to cope with this contingency by 

 daubing the walls of the house and fixing in shutters ; but the 

 dryness of the climate was all-pervading ; if it is proposed to 

 grow another crop at Hope next season the house will have to be 

 closeboarded and fitted with a steaming apparatus. It is my 

 opinion, however, that nothing further is required to demonstrate 

 that Sumatra wrapper can be successfully grown and cured in 

 Jamaica provided the work be undertaken in the localities 

 named." 



REPORT BY MR. F. V. CHALMERS. 

 Mr. F. V. Chalmers to the Honble. the Colonial Secretary. 



26th October, 1904. 

 Sir, 

 I have the honour to report the result of my examination of the 

 tobacco grown in this island. 



Generally speaking, I find the tobacco of good quality and fla- 

 vour. But the majority of the leaves are of a heavy nature, conse- 

 quently from a commercial point of view such tobacco cannot com- 

 pete 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 important point when competing for market 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 to- 

 bacco now being produced, but I think that if more attention was 

 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 must always be remembered that tobacco cannot be produced 

 or determined by a chemical analysis. The quality of some vege- 

 table productions is largely decided by a determinate of its starch, 

 such as the potato or maize and other percentages, but tobacco ap- 

 pears to be determined only by the senses of man ; colour, texture, 

 aroma and combustibility are the points by which the quality. of 



