PRODUCTION AND COMMERCE. 191 



" The foregoing work has been carried out in the labora- 

 tories of the Pharmaceutical Society." 



Philippines. — The soil and climate of the Philippines 

 are eminently suited to tobacco culture ; but the unjust 

 Spanish monopoly cripples the industry, and it is de- 

 clining. Next to the Cuban (Vuelta abajo) and a few 

 prime Turkish sorts, Manilla tobacco is admitted to be 

 the best. Most of the Philippines produce it. According 

 to the quality of the produce, the provinces rank as 

 follows: — (1) Cayagan and Ysabel, (2) Ygorrotes, (3) 

 Island of Mindanao, (4) Bisayas, (5) New Ecija. On 

 the average, over 400 million cigars, and a quantity of 

 tobacco sufficient to bring up the total weight to 56,000 

 cwt., are annually exported. The advantage of the 

 plantations in Cayagan lies in the annual deposit of 

 alluvial matters by the overflowing of the large streams. 

 The cultivation in Bisayas promises to become extinct, 

 whereas if the natives were free to sell in the best 

 market, the industry would increase immensely. The 

 yield of the Cebu district in 1878 was 8780 quintals, the 

 whole of which went to the cigar factories of Cadiz and 

 Alicante. The exports from Manilla were: — in 1877 

 17,526,700 lb. tobacco, value 525,801Z. ; 87,007,000 cigars, 

 value 243,619?.; 1878, 15,630,400 lb. tobacco, value 

 468,918Z. ; 136,835,000 cigars, value 383,136Z. ; 1879, 9971 

 quintals (of 101| lb.) tobacco leaf to Great Britain, and 

 74,490 quintals to Spain; cigars, 10,571,000 to Great 

 Britain, 6,557,000 to Australia, 44,586,000 to the Straits 

 Settlements and India, 25,861,000 to China and Japan, 

 693,000 to the United States, 100,000 to California, 

 1,521,000 to Spain and the Continent; the total values 



