176 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



most probable that this Dimnonk was awakened by the '* cold and frosty night" (such 

 are Mr R.'s words), in the same way as torpid animals are awakened by intense cold ? 



J. C. Bellamy. 



CULTURE OF TOBACCO IN INDIA. 



In an excellent paper on the Ap;rioalture of Hindo'itan in the Quarterly Journal of 

 Agriculture, the followinj:^ account is n;lven of this plant, which forms so widely dis- 

 persed an aiticle of luxury. 



> Two varieties of the Nicotiana Tuhacum have been cultivated, the Orinoco, and 

 the sweet-scented Tobacco. They are very similar in appearance, and differ princi- 

 pally in the form of their leaves, those of ihe latter being broader and shorter. The 

 leaves are light green, and grow alternately at intervals of two or three inches on the 

 stalk, which is strong and erect, attaining a h-^ight of from six to nme feet. The 

 lower leaves grow to the extent of twenty inches, and they decrease in size as they 

 ascend, those at top being about ten inches long and five broad. The young and 

 tender leaves are rather smooth, and of a deep green colour, but become yellowish 

 and rougher as the season advances. The extremities of the stalks are surmounted 

 by clusters of flowers, which are yellow externally, and are within of a delicate red. 

 As these fade, kidney-shaped capsules succeed, each containing on an average a thou- 

 sand seeds. A single plant has been knot^n to produce many hundreds of capsules, 

 so that its produce may be from three to five hundred thousand seeds. 



Although Tobacco be very generally cultivated throughout the East, and more es- 

 pecially in the northern and western provinces of India, and although no plant of Eu- 

 ropean production is in such general request there, its consumption being almost 

 universal among the inhabitants, yet it is in many respects inferior to that of Ame- 

 rican growth. This, however, we feel assured is much more attributable to the want 

 of skill in the curers, than to the soil or climate of Hindostan, and may doubtless be 

 remedied by superior care and attention on the part of cultivators. 



The Javanese annals inform us, that the smo'dng of Tobacco was introduced into 

 that island at the very commencement of the seventeenth century. The plant is, 

 however, true to its more northern origin, and will not arrive at perfection in the hot 

 plains and valleys, unless it has been first raised from seed upon the cooler mountainous 

 tracts. Two distinct classes of husbandmen are therefore required in its culture. 

 The seedlings reared on the hills are sold to the lowland farmers, under whose care 

 it comes to maturity, and seeds again resold by them to their hill friends. Unless 

 this plan be adopted, the plants are sure to degenerate. 



No other proof need be mentioned of the extraordinary fertility of the valleys of 

 Java, than the circumstan(!e that two crops are taken annually from the finer lands, 

 the one of Rice and the other of Tobacco, after which the fields are again laid under 

 water, and sown with rice. This submersion is the only dressing that the soil receives, 

 and its only relief an occasional half year's fallow. The Tobacco seedlings are trans- 

 planted in June, and the crop is reaped before the setting in of th-3 rains, in October 

 and November. 



Tobacco requires a rich soil, and will not thrive on inferior lands ; and it is only or. 

 this account that particular districts enjoy superior reputation for its successful culture. 

 The ground is prepared for its reception by being broken up with hoes, and the clods 

 worked until sufficiently pulverized. The mould is then drawn with the hoe round 

 the projected leg of the labourer, until it form a mound reaching to his knee. 

 The leg is then withdrawn, and he proceeds to form another and another mound, 

 until the whole ground has been gone over. These hillocks are made to run in lines, 

 three or four feet apart in every direction. 



The plants, which have been reared from the seed with great care and diligence, 

 being tender, and unable to stand much cold, thereby requiring a covering of mats at 

 the least threatening of frost, are taken out of the ground, when it has been suffi- 

 ciently moistened by rain, when the fourth leaf has sprouted, and the fifth is just ap- 

 pearing, and conveyed to the field in baskets, one jdant being dropped at every 

 hillock; while a person immediately follows, who, with his finger, makes a hole in 

 the centre, and places the plant in it, carefully firming the ground with his hand, and 

 in such a manner as not to hurt the leaves, which are easily injured. 



If there be much moisture in the soil, it will be evident, in a very few days, that 

 the sprouts have taken. Such as have not are withdrawn, and their places supplied 

 by others, a favourable shower being waited for. 



No crop requires greater care and attention, through the whole course of its growth, 

 than Tobacco. The plants must be continually weeded and earthed up, and any 

 dead leaves which may be discovered about them must be carefully shred away and 

 removed. When the plants have attained the height of two feet, the flower-branches 

 appear, and the operation of topping must then be gone through, lest too much of the 

 nourishment should go to the flower and seed, depriving the leaves of their strength. It 

 is also necessary to remove from time to time all suckers or superfluous shoots ; and this 

 is done by the finger and thumb-nail. Grubs and other destructive insects must also be 

 carefully removed as they appear. Some cultivators keep flocks of Turkeys for this 

 purpose, the Caterpillars being especial favourites with these birds. 



The disease tevxn^d^ firing is a blight which takes place from long continued drought ; 

 the plants withering and dying out in some particular spots. When ripening, the 

 plants change their colour from a dark to a yellowish-green, and the fibres of thn leaf 

 thicken and become more prominent. The time for cutting and gathering in requires 

 an experienced eye; but this should not be unnecessarily deferred, the touch of frost 

 producing entire destruction. 



The plant is cut near the ground, and if the stem be thick, it is then split down 

 the middle, that the leaves may be more exposed to the air in the process of curing. 

 In this state the plants are left on the ground, until sufficiently exposed to the drying 

 r^ysof the sun. After this they are gathered into a barn, whose sides ave constructed 

 80 a? to admit a partial circuladon of air. Poles, four feet apart, are stretched hori- 

 zontally across from wall to wall, and these again intersected with what are called 

 tobacco-sticks, on which the leaves are hung to be cured. This is dune by suspending 

 the plants by the split which has been made m the field at cutting time. The air is 

 generally sufficient for the purpose of curing ; but if the weather is unusually moist, 



small fires of bark, or rotten wood, ara used in different parts of the barn, care being 

 taken that the heat is not too great, as something resembling the disease of firing 

 may be thus induced. 



In four or rive weeks from the time that firing has commenced, the Tobacco is said, 

 to be in case; that is, the leaves are tough and elastic, and covered with a glossy 

 moisture. The first damp day s then chosen for stripping the leaves from thesta'ks, 

 which are distributed into three h^'aps, according to their qualities. Small bundles 

 are then tied together at the thickest ends, by means of a leaf tightly wrap,'ed round 

 them. This fascicului is termed a hand, and is about the thickness of a thumb. 



The httle bundles are then thrown together on a platform, to undergo the opera- 

 tion of sweating, a process in which a slight degree of fermentation is created. 

 When this has subsided, the leaves again acquire their elasticity, and the Tobacco is 

 considered fit for shipment. 



SALMON-FISHING IN THE TAY. 



In the Statisiical Report of the parish of Balmerino, in Fifeshire, the Rev. John 

 Thomson makes the following statement:—" The Salmon-Hshery, once so productive 

 here, is now very inconsiderable, being confined esclu-iively to the toot-nH method of 

 capturing the fish. The net employed is from 50 to 80 yards long, and differs little 

 from the common seine or sweep-net. Instead of being constantly kept in motion, as 

 the latter is, it is attached to a boat at anchor, and only hauie.1 when the tootsman, 

 who watches in the boat, observes a fish to strike the net. It is totally unsuited to 

 estuary fishing. 



" The number of boats connected wiih the fisheries in this parish amounts to seven, 

 and they keep employed 14 men during the open season. Tiie fisheries belong to 

 Mr Wedderburn of Bukhill, Mrs B. Morison of Naughton, and Mr Stuart of Balme- 

 rino, and are rented at about L.50 per annum. 



*' In the year 1797, the stake-net was introduced in the SoUvay Frith (where it is 

 at present logal !) and in the Frith of Tay. This engine was constructed by driving 

 strong stakes in a row, from the shore towards low water mark, and nearly at right 

 angles to the tide. On these stakes were stretched nets with open meshes, three 

 inches from knot to knot, or twelve inches round. Thus a wall of open netting was 

 constructed, sufficient to intercept the large fi^h, but through whi'di the water, and 

 all small fishes, could pass freely. In this wall of netting were placed courts or la- 

 byrinths. The Silmon, influenced in their movements by the tide, met this netted 

 wall, and, seeking along for an opening through which to pass, entered these courts, 

 where they were detained and taken out at low water. By means of these nets, great 

 quantities of Salmon, of the first quality, were caught, and exported in boxes packed 

 with ice to the London market. The proprietors of the river fisheries now got alarmed 

 for their monopoly, and, taking advantage of the antiquated statutes referred to above, 

 some of them passed by the Scottish legislature more than four hundred years ago, 

 and long before it was ever dreamt of that Salmon-fishing could be successfully carried 

 on in the friths or seas, applied for an interdict, and ultimately succeeded in prohibit- 

 ing the use of such fixed machinery : the courts having held, that, as these statu'^es 

 had never been repealed, any infringement of their provisions must be held illegal. 

 The effect of this decision has been greatly to deteriorate the estuary fishery ; while 

 the proprietors of the river fishings enjoy a monopoly price in the market. 



" In framing these regulations, the object of the S>;ottish legislature must have been 

 to protect the public interests and prevent injury to the fiihery generally ; and this 

 is the only ground upon which they can yet be defended. Experience, however, has 

 proved that this defence of them cannot be maintained. At the early period when 

 these regulations were framed, little was known regarding the Salmon ; but from what 

 is now known of its habits and history, it is perfectly well ascertained, that while in 

 the friths and in the sea (where alone stake-nets can be used), none but fish in the 

 best condition are caught ; in the rivers, Salmon of inferior quality, and often in a foul 

 and unwholesome state, are taken, — that it is in the rivers, and in these alone, 

 that any injury can be done to the spawn, or salmon fry, by the heavy ground ropes 

 which are drawn across the spawn-beds ; that the stake-nets do not interrupt or in- 

 terfere with the river fishings, as it has been proved that the quantity caught in the 

 river, since the stake-nets were abolished, does not exceed the quantity caught when 

 these were in use ; — that, in short, the effect of the prohibition has been to secure a 

 monopoly price to the river fishers, while the myriads of Salmon which escape from 

 the rivers and find their way to the sea, and which might become a valuable article of 

 commerce, and be made available as a rich and nutrftious article of food to the pub- 

 lic, at a moderate price, are totally lost, or only abandoned as a prey to the monsters 

 of the deep. 



" The extent of the loss in the Tay generally, in consequence of the suppression of 

 these nets, has been estimated at from 200 to 300 tons, or from 20,000 to 30,000 

 head of Salmon annually. The whole estuary does not now produce above 3000 fish. 

 (Evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, 1827.) In this parish 

 alone the loss may be estimated in rent at L.IOOO to L.1200 annually to the different 

 proprietors; and about L.IOOO in the shape of wages. Other evils also have re- 

 sulted. The aged females and others have been deprived of an excellent and healthy 

 employment in the working of nets, while a hardy and expert race of seamen were re- 

 gularly trained thi'ough means of their connection with the fishery. Let us hope 

 that an enlightened and paternal legislature, under whose revision the fishery laws 

 are again to be brought, will speedily remove the present oppressive restrictions upon 

 this lucrative branch of industry, by which not individual proprietors alone, but the 

 community at large, must be so extensively benefited, and in the decision of which 

 question they have so deep an interest." 



Edinburgh; Published for the Proprietor, at the Office, No. 13, iiiU Street. 

 London: Saiith, Elder, and Co., b5, Cornhill. Glasgow and the West of 

 Scotland: John Smith and Son; and John Macleod. Dublin: George 

 Young. Paris: J. B. Bailliere, Ruede I'Ecole de Medecine, No. 13 bis. 



THE BOINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



