Tobacco 



229 



at present under tobacco is about four hundred acres. ' The tobacco trade has progressed very 

 satisfactorily during the past eleven years. Jamaica cigars and cigarettes, which are manu- 

 factured at Kingston, have gained a very enviable reputation in the market, and' the 

 industry may now be considered to be well established. In the opinion of many experts, 

 Jamaica cigars are the finest produced in the British Empire. The exports in 1904-5 were 

 valued at £22,408, as compared with a Value of £19,567 in the preceding year, and these figures 

 are exclusive of the locally grown tobacco consumed in the island. 



Africa - 



Several of the British African colonies have long grown tobacco, and some of the newer 

 countries are making serious attempts to produce a marketable article ; but up to the 

 present comparatively little has been done, except in British Central Africa, the tobacco of 

 which has a good reputation. .:- . • . . 



The British South Africa Company is paying special attention to tobacco in Rhodesia, 

 and has called in the aid of the highest expert ' advice in relation to its cultivation and 

 preparation. The different varieties of soil found in the country are capable of growing 

 light cigarette tobacco, cigar leaf, and heavy smoking tobacco,- — all of excellent quality. 

 Cigarettes made from Rhodesian-grown Turkish, tobacco have been on sale in London 

 for the past two years, and of their high quality there can be little difference of opinion. 



The possibilities of successful tobacco culture in the Transvaal and the Orange River 

 Colony are considerable, and the Government has been sufficiently alive to this fact to engage 

 the services of one of the most prominent tobacco experts in order that the farmers may become 

 acquainted with the best methods of cultivation and preparation. 



Australasia 



Several attempts have been made in Australia to establish a tobacco industry, 

 but the net result is comparatively small. In Queensland the crop is grown in the south, but 

 the area planted is not much more than five hundred acres. The tobacco acreage in New 

 South Wales is also small in spite of the fact that in many parts of the State. the climate and 

 soil are well suited to the plant. In Victoria there is a small area under tobacco, but at one 

 time the crop was much 

 more extensively grown. 

 New Zealand has also at- 

 tempted tobacco-growing, 

 but the cultivation is now 

 abandoned. 



The United Kingdom 



In order to protect the 

 growing industry in Vir- 

 ginia, an Act was passed 

 in the reign of Charles II 

 forbidding the cultivation 

 of tobacco in England ; and 

 since that time the culti- 

 vation has been prohibited 

 under heavy penalties, 

 chiefly for fiscal reasons. 

 From time to time, how- 

 ever, the Government has 

 permitted experimental 



By permission of Messrs. GallaHer 



CORNER OF LEAF ROOM- 



-GALLAHER S FACTORY 



