TOBACCO CULTURE IN AUSTRALIA. 359 



bounds of the place. The old Dutch planters were fond of a 

 " silent pipe," and after the labors of the day gathered 

 together to drink and smoke to the success of Admiral Yon 

 Tromp, whose exploits in the British Channel carried terror 

 to many a heart. Or, speculated upon the voyage of the 

 " Goede Vrouw" (Good Woman), which had been fitted out 

 to colonize the new country. 



The progress of tobacco-culture in Oceanica, is shown in 

 the following account which Connor gives of the tobacco 

 plantations of Australia : 



" The development of tobacco culture in Australia has been 

 great and rapid. In these colonies, where only a few years 

 ago the plant was not known, there are now hundreds of 

 acres under tobacco. The local manufacture is also keeping 

 pace with the production of the leaf, and the import of 

 tobacco into the Australian colonies yearly diminishes in 

 proportion to the increased consumption of locally grown 

 and manufactured tobacco. Imported leaf is used in the 

 manufacture of cigars, those made from colonial leaf being 

 held in low esteem. Steady efforts are being made by the 

 cultivators to improve the quality of the produce, and with 

 every prospect of success, many places in the colonies being 

 well adapted for the growth of the plant. Colonel De Coin 

 says Australia is capable of producing very good qualities. 

 Tobacco has hitherto been grown upon alluvial lands, but a 



S reference is evinced for lands somewhat less rich but free 

 rom floods. Alluvial land gives a larger crop per acre, but 

 the flavor is ranker. In 1872 there were 567 acres under 

 tobacco in New South Wales. The average produce of the 

 colonies is about 1,300 pounds to the acre. The amount of 

 produce varied from 976 pounds to the acre in New South 

 Wales to 2,016 in Tasmania, the climate of this island being 

 moister and more favorable for tobacco than that of the other 

 colonies. Manilla and Havana tobacco has been grown with 

 great success for seed for many years at the Adelaide Botanic 

 Gardens, and the seed raised has been largely distributed." 



The Australian growers may demonstrate the fact that as 

 good or better Manilla tobacco can be grown by them than in 

 the Philippine islands. If the leaf will burn freely, and 

 leave a white, firm ash, the product will no doubt prove a 

 rival of the leaf grown in Luzon. From the composition of 



