187 



MEXICAN SUNFLOWER. 



Tithonia divebsifolia, A. Gray. 



Four or five years ago His Excellency Sir Henry Blake received 

 seeds of a u Sunflower " and sowed them in King's House Garden. 

 They grew into shrubs 8 or 10 feet high, covered with bright golden 

 yellow flowers, 4 or 5 inches across, more beautiful and graceful than 

 the common Sunflower. The sight of a single bush is charming, but 

 when the bushes are massed in quantities, the general effect is "a beauty 

 and a joy" for the short time that they are in flower. 



But, alas, eternal beauty is denied them, as it was to Tithonos, 

 after whom they are named. He was beloved by the Goddess Dawn, 

 and desiring immortality, obtained it, but neglecting to ask also for 

 eternal youth, his beauty passed away, and at his own prayer he became 

 turned into a grasshopper. So Tithonia's flowers fade all too soon, but 

 more happy than he, they renew their youth with each succeeding 

 Autumn. 



Tithonia diversifolia is a native of Mexico : it is also found in Cey- 

 lon where it was first introduced in 1851 from California. There it 

 has spread on waste ground, and along roadsides over the moist 

 country up to 5,000 feet with all the appearance of a native weed. 

 It is not a pest, as the seeds are not carried by the wind, but simply 

 drop on the ground. 



MEXICAN TOBACCO. 



A Foreign Office Report has been issued dealing with the Mexican 

 tobacco trade. Mr. Chapman, British Consul at Vera Cruz, states that 

 until the year 1897-8 the exports of Mexican tobacco showed but little 

 advancement in the trade. Whereas in 1896-7 the total export of raw 

 tobacco from the whole Republic was 1,349,903 kilos, representing 

 1,718,232 Mexican dollars, in the following year they were 3,107,619, 

 valued at 3,563,620 dollars. Manufactured tobacco, on the other hand, 

 showed a decrease of from 420, J82 kilos, representing 1,001,859 dollars 

 in 18^6-7, to 389,697 kilos, valued at 926,148 dollars in 1897-8. The 

 increase of raw exports in 1897-8 was due to abnormal causes. In that 

 year the Mexican export trade in tobacco received an impetus during 

 the Cuban Revolution, when the Spaniards impeded the cultivation and 

 export of Cuban tobacco, and large stocks in hand were detained in the 

 island. At the same time certain Mexican tobaccos were imported into 

 the United States as fillings and used as wrappers, and in view of the 

 contemplated change in the Dingley tariff, large demands were made 

 for Mexican tobacco for the supply of Tampa, Key West, and Florida 

 factories before the contemplated change in the Dingley tariff took 

 effect. This caused a boom in tobacco. Prices rose, exports increased, 

 and the resources of capital and labour were strained to increase produc- 

 tion. 



With the change in the Dingley tariff, the freeing of the Cuban 

 supply in hand, and the prospects of an early resumption of cultivation 



