74 ON THE TOBACCO TRADE AND CULTIVATION 



of 30,000 lbs, or 40,000 lbs. sent annually to Austria, all the finest 

 qualities go to Constantinople, and tbe secondary to Smyrna and other 

 home markets. Value, from Is. to 4s. per lb. 



The mountain crop (5,000,000 lbs.) goes almost entirely to Austria and 

 France. This is of a darker^colour, and is worth no more than 2|d. to 

 4d. per lb. The exportation to Europe is conducted through the port of 

 Ca valla; the home or Turkish trade through the port of Karaghatch 

 (Lagos). 



Yenidgeh. — This locality also comprises plain, hill, and mountain 

 culture. The greater proportion of the produce is made up into 

 "bassma," whilst a portion only of the mountain growth becomes 

 " bashi-baghli." In respect of quality, value, and mode of packing, this 

 is the same class of tobacco as the Sarishaban. "Yenidgeh" is the 

 generic designation for all the produce of the " golden leaf." The low 

 lands produce 4,200,000 lbs., the high lands 1,500,000 lbs. The finer 

 crop of the plain is sent to Constantinople and to Russia ; the inferior 

 to various parts of Turkey, and to the Danubian Principalities. Of the 

 mountain tobacco about 500,000 lbs. go to Austria. 



Ghiumirgina and Sultan-Yeri. — The cultivation in these districts dates 

 only five or six years back. The tobacco is of the class f • Drama," but 

 rather inferior to it. GMiirnirgina produces about 420,000 lbs. 

 "bassma," of a dark coloured leaf, worth from 2§<L to 4d. per lb., 

 which is taken up by home markets. Sultan-Yeri yields 560,000 lbs., 

 " bashi-baghli," of a still darker shade, worth from 2d. to 4d. per lb., of 

 which the best is sent to Constantinople, and the inferior to the Princi- 

 palities. These tobaccos, with those of Yenidgeh, are exported through 

 Port Lagos. 



Culture. — Experience, as derived from local cultivation, would seem 

 to prove that the tobacco plant thrives best in an alluvial t soil, com- 

 posed of an equal mixture of clay and sand. In the low clay lands of 

 Ghiumirgina, where clay predominates, the plant is far from arriving at 

 perfection. On the higher levels, at the bases of hills, and on the 

 gently rising uplands, the soil is most congenial to its wants ; while on 

 the mountain, where there is an excess of sand and quartzose detritus, 

 the plant degenerates. 



In tobacco-planting, the same land is cropped over and over again 

 from year to year, and is never allowed to lie in fallow or under other 

 crops. Constant applications of manure maintain the fertility of the rich 

 soil, and prevent its exhaustion under this trying process. In common 

 with every other branch of agriculture, the tobacco-lands are tilled 

 entirely by the plough ; spade husbandry is unknown. Men, women 

 and children, all contribute their labour. 



The Nicotiana rustica, bike the other species of the herbaceous annual 

 Nicotiana cultivated in Europe, is not considered to be indigenous, but 

 an exotic introduced from the New World. Some authorities are of 



