TH6 J0URNi\l9 



OF 



Yfie department of ffgrictifture 



OF 



NE 



VICTORIA. 



Vol. VIII. Part 12. 



10th Deeembep, 1910. 



TOBACCO CULTURE. 



T. A. J . Smith, Tobacco Expert. 



During the past nine years, tobacco-growing in Victoria has shown a 

 steadily increasing production, as the following figures will prove. The 

 fluctuation in year 1906-7 was due to an unusually bad season for 

 summer crops in those districts where the bulk of the tobacco is grown : — 



Year. 



igoi-2 

 1902-3 

 1903-4 



1904-5 



Yield. 



lbs. 



157.360 



67.536 



309,629 



296,464 



These results are encouraging and yet, when we find that values have in- 

 creased from 50 per cent, to 150 per cent, for the cured leaf, it is remark- 

 able that the industrv has not progressed at an even greater rate. In 

 1901-2, first grade leaf was selling for 4d. per i lb. for pipe tobacco, little 

 or no cigar leaf being then grown. During the past two years first grade 

 pipe tobacco has commanded prices ranging from yd. per lb. to pd. per lb., 

 and cigar leaf has been selling at prices ranging from yd. to is. per lb. 

 and, in special cases, to is. 3d. and is. 6d. per lb. 



These facts go to prove that good leaf can be produced profitably in 



Victoria, and that tobacco-growing as a form of intense culture, especially 



on small holdings, should in time become one of the most important of 



our rural industries. Small areas have given large returns, an important 



'— matter to people with only a small capital to invest in land ; further, little 



^' or no special machinerv is required for the production nf the crop. At 



'"'■ Edi, three men took ,/;75o worth of tobacco (pipe) from 15 acres in one 



^ season — a return of ^50 per acre. A small plot of 5 acres, at Whitfield, 



r- 15937. 2 c 



