March, 1910.] 



205 



Drugs and Medicinal Plants. 



actually natural conditions. According 

 to Mr. Bernard Coventry, who has given 

 this matter careful consideration, the 

 natural conditions in India are, as a rule, 

 positively hostile to good curing, 

 for the climate is too dry and the 

 fermentative changes required do not 

 take place. Hence the necessity we 

 have suggested for properly equipped 

 curing factories in which artificial 

 means could be effectively introduced 

 to obtain the necessary conditions 

 of combined heat and moisture, and 

 hence also the necessity for well-trained 

 experts. These factories could, of course, 

 form part of the ordinary tobacco manu- 

 factory, or could exist as separate units, 

 purchasing the raw material from the 

 surrounding growers and disposing of 

 the finished article as might be most 

 advantageous. In other words, they 

 would be purely and simply tobacco 

 curers in a country where an undoubted 

 demand exists for properly cured 

 tobacco. 



If something on the lines suggested 

 were done, there can be little doubt that 

 the day would be hastened when India 

 will, as she seems destined to do even- 

 tually, take her proper place and march 

 with the great tobacco-producing coun- 

 tx-ies of the world. 



We are led to these remarks by a 

 perusal of an instructive pamphlet 

 recently issued by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, entitled 

 Principles and Practical Methods of 

 Curing Tobacco— Bulletin No. 143. In 

 this work are contained the impressions 

 and experience of Mr. W. W. Garner, 

 Government Physiologist, in connection 

 with official tobacco investigations, who 

 discusses this, to India, at all events, 

 very important question from practi- 

 cally every point of view, and introduces 

 illustrations wnere necessary to keep 

 his meaning clear. A copy of the 

 Bulletin may be seen at this office, or 

 may be obtained through any bookseller 

 from the Government Printing Office, 

 Washington, United States, at a total 

 cost of a few annas. 



The American Consul at Bombay in a 

 report on tobacco trade in India says :— 

 The British- American Tobacco Company 

 practically controls the import trade of 

 this commodity in India. The few local 

 independent manufacturers find it very 

 difficult to keep their businesses goiug 

 with such strong: opposition. There is a 

 large import of cigarettes solely under 

 its control. It has a factory at Moughyr, 

 in Bengal, and has purchased land upon 

 which it grows its own tobacco. The 

 manufacture of tobacco is a promising 



industry in India, The natives smoke 

 from early youth, and the tendency is 

 toward the abandonment of the clumsy 

 "hukka" in favour of cigars and 

 cigarettes. According to official statistics 

 the area under tobacco cultivation in 

 India is about 1,700 square miles, more 

 than half of which is in Bengal. The bulk 

 of the leaf is exported to foreign coun- 

 tries in a crudely cured condition or is 

 sent to Burma to be mixed with locally- 

 grown tobacco and made into cigars. 

 The imports of tobacco into India, 

 however, exceed the exports, due mainly 

 to the large import of cheap cigarettes. 

 The prevalence of cigarette smoking is 

 very noticeable in Bombay and other 

 large towns. The cigarettes are sold at 

 a price which brings them within the 

 reach of all and creates a demand, for in 

 the case of articles of popular consump- 

 tion cheapness is in India the first con- 

 sideration. However, in spite of these 

 large importations, the Indian cigarette 

 locally known as " biri " more than holds 

 its own, except perhaps in the seaport 

 towns where no inland freight has been 

 paid upon the imported article. The 

 cheapness of the "biri" is amazing, a 

 thousand of them being sold for 20 cents 

 and even less, notwithstanding the 

 tobacco for their manufacture is some- 

 times brought from Madras and Assam, 

 but the wages paid are only a little over 

 half a cent for rolling 100 cigarettes. 

 The Indian cigar industry is an expand- 

 ing one and Indian manufactures are 

 now exported to all parts of the world, 

 but the quality of both the Indian cigar 

 and Burma cheroot is very variable, due 

 to the uneven quality of the tobacco. 

 The Government has made repeated 

 efforts to improve the culture, but owing 

 to the conservatism of cultivators no 

 success has been attained. The method 

 of curing is also crude. The process is 

 not under control and it is frequently 

 carried too far with the result that the 

 aromatic properties are dissipated, and 

 an objectionable pungent mass is left. 

 For wrappers the Indian cigar manu- 

 facturers use imported leaf, which may 

 either be Sumatra or Java, and for 

 fillers native-grown tobaccos are used. 



JAVA CINCHONA. 



(Prom the Chemist and Druggist, 

 Vol. LXXVI,, No. 568, January 8, 1910.) 



In our issue of December 25 (p. 965) 

 we gave an account of the proceedings 

 at a recent meeting of the Preanger 

 Cinchona Board, at which it was decided 

 to issue a circular to cinchona-planters 

 in Java, calling attention to the present 

 position of the proposed Cinchona Syndi- 



