0-. 



C^ 



STUDIES IN INDIAN TOBACCOS. 



No. 2. THE TYPES OF NICOTIANA 

 TABACUM, L. 



BY 



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

 Imperial Economic Botanist, 



AND 



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

 Associate and former Felloiv of Newnham College, Cambridge. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



Ordinary tobacco {Nicotiana tahacum, L.) is grown all over 

 India and is apparently the only species cultivated in the 

 Peninsula. In this, as in other countries, it forms the most 

 important source of" the tobacco of commerce. 



In perhaps no other cultivated crop is the question of quality 

 so important as in tobacco. The general opinion seems to be 

 that with the exception of some of the crop grown for cigar- 

 fillers in Madras, the quality of Indian tobacco is not high. 

 Whether this is due to the varieties grown, to the methods of 

 cultivation, to climate, soil and moisture conditions, to the curing 

 or to a combination of these causes is not known with precision. 

 Several attempts have been made in the past to improve the 

 quality of Indian tobacco by the introduction of American and 

 Sumatra varieties and by the employment of American curers, 

 but up to the present no results have been obtained. This want 

 of success seems to have been largely due to the failure on the 

 part of the investigators to realise that the first condition of 

 success in improving this or any other crop is a thorough study 



