THE CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 163 



of labour is iiecessaiy to the success of the industry, for if the labour 

 supply fail during any of the critical stages of the tobacco crop, as at 

 the topping, suckering, or harvesting times, the crop will be a failure, 

 and the money invested be lost. The labour conditions should also be 

 such, that the same labourers will be secured year after year, for they 

 will greatly increase in efficiency where they continue at the same 

 work, and learn its routine and details. 



Tobacco is well adapted to culture by large companies, for there 

 is no limit to the acreage that may be controlled by one corporation. 

 The production of a high-gi-ade tobacco requires the services of a high- 

 salaried expert, as well as a corps of lesser experts. They can be 

 secured only by a company with money and influence. The tobacco- 

 growing companies of Florida pay most enormous returns, and one of 

 the largest Sumatia companies pays an average dividend of seventy- 

 five per cent., and has, out of its profits, increased its capital to about 

 twenty times the amount paid in. This Company employs sixteen 

 thousand workmen, as well as a corps of one hundred and sixty experts 

 and managers. 



A FEW CONCLUDING WORDS. 



The development of the tobacco industry has been the work of 

 four centuries, during which time many facts have been ascertained 

 by experience, some learned by accident, and others by careful scien- 

 tific investigation. 



The planters of a country in newly taking upj the culture of 

 tobacco need not go through all the vaifed steps, and themselves 

 experience all that the older countries have done, for they have at 

 their command the accumulated knowledge of the rest of the world for 

 four centuries. At the same time, the new country cannot start out ,' ,' r,yl,,, ^ 

 full-fledged in the industry, for there are local, climatic and soil ^ ' ' 

 influences to be determined, and labour conditions to be adjusted, as^ ,^-, ,^ ^ 

 well as markets to be found. - — 



The first step in the cultui'e is the experimental stage, and before 

 starting this work the experimenter should be thoroughly informed as 

 to the nature of the tobacco plant and its requirements, for if he is not, 

 the causes of the good or bad results obtained will not be understood, 

 and the conclusions diawn will be faulty and of little value. One 

 year's carefully planned, intelligently observed, and accurately recorded 

 experiments will be of more value than twenty years of experiments 

 carelessly conducted. / 



Next, after favourable results have been obtamed m the experi- / d ] .^^ 



mental stage, comes the period of commercial expan,sion. Labour niust__ 

 be secured retained, and trained, because a large tobacco industry is / iMi.l 

 notTiSeFy to be established with an irregular, untramed^labour suppiy. ' 



Xheii comes the question of the development of the markets. 

 Two thin <^s will produce a market for a tobacco— merit and energy, ^ ,-. , ,. 



and these should not be divorced. A superior tobacco may have 

 difficulty in establishing itself for the reason that tobacco dealers are 

 conservative, and look askance at an unknown product. Energy tact 

 and determination, however, will push an unknown leaf until its 

 merits are familiar to all. The world really wants new superior 

 tobaccos, but is somewhat slow m discovering them when they are 

 produced. To secure a market for a new inferior tobacco at the 

 present time requires " cheek " added to energy, and as soon as the 



