BENfiAL SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION 



cultivation 



i i .,..:,.',,:. 



Intend. 



j :..-.. -. i.-. 



Cultiva- 

 tion * 



indUo mrw. 



intrte 



NICOTIANA 



Cultivation 

 Bengal 

 in England was again prohibited, and in K,7o Churl.-* II. paed still 



Art, liy uhieh import-, mteiKleil f,.r Ireland I, a, I, in tin- lirM inMai, 

 eon\e\ed to Kn^land. In IT'I'.I ill.' ii, -I , '.n-.'mipt ion ! tODAOCO in 



t,, 1 1 ,i',o. !',,",'. ii,. i,, i7.-{| Virginia and Mary land were regarded M i.ibi<- 



aei|iiisit ions i., I'.ni. mi lieeanm-. aiiionu' other eonsiderat i.,n^, ,,f the t,,l.ar, 

 proilueeil. AII interesting account of the eultu at Km ill tolia.-.o in \ 

 It'iTi, is ni\en l,\ Mi. Thomas <;lo\er in a paper d.-h\, red i.. il,, 

 (/'/<//. Tran*., .lune L'O, lliTli, M.. lil.':j, (al-rnl. ,-!.) ii.. :{O| i. , 



I'.t'H). By a pecial v-i [II. (1780) tobacco i Ith M m In-ian 



allowed, hut nut in Kn^liuul nor Srotlaml; ami, lofltly, in IK.'JO Wilhum IV. 

 prolnliileil the In-h <-nll i\ ation. 



I'rior to (lie separation of the I'mteil States, the Mriti-h mipply of tobacco 

 came almost entireU frmn Virginia. During the reign of Queen Anne tin- annual 

 ie from tobacco was only about 250,000. In 1903 the net import* 

 -ay. imports less exports) were valued at :{,i:{ii,22H, or a total 



1 Ib., and the traffic gave a revenue of over 12} million pounds Hterlin^. 

 CULTIVATION. 



Area. The crop occupied in 1905-6, 1,0 18,506 acres in British di>t: 

 ami 24,284 acres in the Native States for whuli returns are available. 

 But since several important States furnish no returns, it maybe accept.-,! 

 as a safe estimate to put the total tobacco area of India at 1,100,000 

 acres. It would, moreover, seem fairly certain that it has not expanded 

 materially during the past ten years. Of the total, Bengal (including 

 Eastern Bengal and Assam), has fully one-half; Madras a little over 

 130,000 acres ; Burma, Bombay, the United Provinces and the Panjab 

 have each about 60,000 acres. 



As a rule there are three distinct persons concerned in the tobacco 

 trade. In Kangpur (of Bengal) the cultivators sell the leaf on the field 

 to up-country traders and curers dalals, as they are called who own 

 large curing-sheds, at certain convenient intervals, through the chief 

 tobacco-producing localities. The curers next sell it to Burmese dealers, 

 who gome and supervise the leaf as it is being cured ; they then pack and 

 dispatch it themselves. These three classes are fairly general throughout 

 Bengal, the chief tobacco-growing province of India. Tobacco with 

 the Natives of India is either used up in the crude form or is worked 

 into a paste with several ingredients (to be detailed later on), and in that 

 form smoked. The more elaborate curing of higher-grade leaf is pursued Curing for 

 over a comparatively limited area, and to meet the demands of the Martst!" 1 

 European rather than the Native population. Bengal, the chief growing 

 province, takes practically no share in the higher-grade manufacture. Native 

 The crudely manufactured leaf (in trade returned as " unmanufactured 

 tobacco ") is exported to Burma or to foreign countries, and in these is 

 worked up into special grades of smoking-tobacco, cigars, etc. In South 

 India (and within comparatively recent years) a new trade has arisen in 

 the manufacture of cigars for the European consumer, both within India 

 and throughout the East generally. Indian cigars have, moreover, found 

 their way to Europe, and the traffic in them is yearly increasing. In 

 the whole of India there are nominally, say, 25 curing farms and 

 factories that give employment to 2,150 persons, but this must be regarded 

 as over and above the large number of persons already indicated as con- 

 cerned in the cultivation and crude manufacture of the Native article. 

 [C/. Heuze, Les PL Indust., 1895, iv., 24-42.] 



Bengal, Eastern Bengal and Assam. Tobacco is grown for local Bengal, 

 consumption in almost every district, more especially in Rangpur, Jal- <M* 

 paiguri, Kuch Bihar, Darbhanga, Purnea, the 24-Parganas, Nadia, 



797 



n) 



(f) 



Dealer*. 



Indian Curlug- 



\ irJ.-. 



