

STUDIES IN INDIAN TOBACCOS. 



No. I. THE TYPES OF NICOTIANA RUSTICA, L., 

 YELLOW FLOWERED TOBACCO, 



By 



ALBERT HOWARD, m.a., a.r.c.s., f.l.s,, 



Imperial Economic Botanist, 



AND 



GABRIELLE L. C. HOWARD, m.a., 

 Associate and Jormer Felloiv of Neivnham College, Cambridge. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



Yellow-Flowered Tobacco (Nicotiana rusfica, L.), is widely 

 cultivated in India and is found principally in Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam, Bengal, the United Provinces, the Punjab, and also in' 

 Kashmir. In some Districts of the Punjab and also in Purnea 

 it is said to be supplanting the cultivated forms of N. tabacum, L., 

 while it is the prevailing species in the damper soils of the south- 

 ern portion of the tobacco-growing District of Rangpur. This 

 species is hardier, requires a shorter time to come to maturity and 

 is said to give a higher yield than ^Y. tahacuin. So little is 

 known of this tobacco in India that it is stated that no different 

 races of the species exist. ^ 



The area occupied by the tobacco crop in India is estimated 

 by Watt at 1,100,000 acres. The total annual value, at X5, or 

 Rs. 75 per acre, is considered by Coventry^ to exceed five million 

 pounds sterling, which would bring tobacco into the fifth or sixth 

 position of importance among the crops of India. 



1 Watt, The Commercial Products of Iitdit, l!»08, pp. 7!)7 & 798. 



* Coventry, Proceedings of the Board of AyrlcuUure in, Iwlia, 1906 p. 77- 



