12 



2200. This is from the Eimboeu estate of the British Deli and Lang-- 

 kat Company, Limited. It is described as sand and clay and well 

 adapted to tobacco. 



2209. Sample from Tjermin estate of the United Langkat Plantations 

 Company, Limited. It is said to produce a very line leafy tobacco of 

 good burning qualities. 



2199. This is a sample from the Rimboen estate of the British Deli 

 and Langkat Company, Limited, which for some reason is not well 

 adapted to the production of tobacco. The plants have only eight or 

 ten leaves and these are of third and fourth lengths. The reason for 

 the inferior quality of the tobacco is not stated. 



2210. This is from the Tjermin estate above mentioned, and is not 

 well adapted to tobacco, as the subsoil is coarse and open and lacks 

 humus and vegetable matter. 



2208. This is from the Brahang estate above mentioned, and is said 

 to produce a very fine wrapper leaf and to be adopted also to coffee. 



2195. This sample is from theBekala estate of the Deli Maatschappij. 

 The soil is loamy and easily cultivated, and produces the very best 

 kind of Sumatra tobacco imported into America, known as the '^ bull- 

 eye speckled " tobacco. The sample is from a depth of from 4 to 12 

 inches. 



2196. This sample is from the same place as the one just given. It 

 is the subsoil at a depth of from 12 to 24 inches. 



2201. This is from the Tandjong Goenoeng estate above mentioned. 

 The subsoil is said to be volcanic and to contain much pumice stone. 

 It is quite open and leachy and crops suffer from drought. For this 

 reason it is not well adapted to tobacco, as plants die or are forced to 

 early maturity before they have attained any size. 



2197. This sample is from the Bekala estate above mentioned. The 

 soil is rather heavy, containing a comparatively large amount of clay, 

 and it is said there is no hardpan underlying this, and plants are 

 liable to die about two weeks after being set out. For this reason it is 

 not well adapted to tobacco growing. The depth of this sample is 

 from 4 to 12 inches. 



2198. This is a subsoil from a depth of from 12 to 24 inches, taken 

 immediately under the sample just described. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF TOBACCO. 



Prior to 1862 a very good quality of tobacco was produced in the 

 eastern portion of the Island of Java, in the same group of islands with 

 Sumatra. This had been excee,dingly profitable for the planters, but 

 about this time the crops began to bring lower prices and planters were 

 forced to look to other localities in which a better grade of tobacco 

 could be produced. An Arabian trader called the attention of some 

 of his merchant friends in Batavia, the capital of Java, to Deli on the 

 east coast of the Island of Sumatra where he claimed there was a 



