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ments in tobacco culture with those made in France 

 where the plant is a State monopoly. While with us 

 the matter is still under enquiry, in France the 

 scheme has been fully matured, and the result is a 

 revenue about equal to that which we derive from 

 opium. Why should this be, when we have soil in 

 our favour, and when India carried off the first 

 medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 ? Doubtless 

 we have had many other prominent questions to 

 occupy our attention, but this has now become as 

 important as any of them. In France the same 

 pains are taken in the selection of seed and soil as 

 with the final preparation of the leaf; and this 

 branch of agriculture forms a distinct department, 

 managed by a corps of trained men from the Ecole 

 Poly technique. If we are equally careful in the 

 manufacture, and if it be placed on a satisfactory 

 financial footing, I confidently predict that fibre will 

 form an item in the revenue of India not less impor- 

 tant than iron, coal, silk, cotton, and tobacco, each of 

 which has in turn been held up as a main-spring of 

 the future wealth of the country. The dimensions 

 to which this industry may attain will be understood 

 when I state that there are 812 paper-mills in Great 

 Britain and Ireland. One paper-maker alone 

 (according to his own statement) consumes at the 

 rate of 120 tons a week; and I have been told that 

 the mills of the Daily Telegraph consume about 80 

 tons a month. . The number of distinct trades 

 wholly dependent on paper are 24 while there are 

 numerous others which are chiefly supported by it. 



