228 



The World's Commercial Products 



districts concerned are 

 Bombay, Madras, and the 

 Punjab. The plantations 

 and factories are often man- 

 aged by American experts, 

 and most varieties of the 

 plant, including the Persian 

 " Shiraz " tobacco, have 

 been experimented with. 

 In Madras some of the 

 most celebrated of its to- 

 baccos are grown in the 

 Northern Circars, and in 

 the deltas of the Krishna 

 and Godavery rivers. The 

 famous Dindigul brand is 

 raised in plantations which 

 are managed upon the most 

 modern lines, and the 

 cheroots of Trichinopoly 

 are well known. 

 •The total area under cultivation in. India in 1905 was upwards of 1,000,000 acres, and 



the value of the export for the same year was £138,700. 



Considerable quantities of tobacco are also grown in Ceylon, where it is used for local 



consumption by the natives and for export to India. The quality of the tobacco would be 



quite unsuitable for the Western market. 



By permission of Messrs. Gallaher 



SPINNING ROOM — GALLAHER's FACTORY 



British North Borneo 



In other parts of the British Empire the cultivation of tobacco has met with varying 

 measures of success. The industry is of considerable importance in British North Borneo, 

 where in 1883 the first tobacco-planting company, under the name of the Chinese Sabah Com- 

 pany, started a tobacco plantation at Sandakan Bay. Tobacco had long been known to exist 

 in Borneo, but it was the remarkable success of the plantations in the neighbouring islands of 

 Sumatra and Java which first drew attention to the possibilities of Borneo as a tobacco- 

 producing country. Samples of the product were sent to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition 

 of 1886, and very favourable opinions were expressed by the brokers, who, however, pointed 

 out the necessity for adopting improved methods in the drying and fermenting processes. 

 In later years great advances were made in producing an article of good quality, and Borneo 

 cigars and tobacco soon became well known in England. The leaf grown is chiefly intended as 

 wrappers for cigars. Planting is carried out in April and May, and in seventy days the leaves 

 are gathered, so that only three months elapse from the time the seeds are put in the 

 nursery-bed until the gathering of the crop. 



At the present day there are three large tobacco companies in British North Borneo, the 

 survivors of a much larger number which existed a few years ago. Much competition has been 

 experienced at the hands of the Sumatra planters witmtheir famous leaf, and although tobacco 

 is one of the most important planting industries of the country, it at present shows no signs of 

 immediate expansion. 



■ Jamaica 



' In Jamaica the cultivation of tobacco has lately received much attention. The soil, 

 climate, and general- conditions are very favourable in many parts of the island, and the area 



