February, 1912.] 



Ill 



Drugs and Medicinal Plants. 



tity which may safely be left in the 

 tobacco on shipment from Ceylon must 

 be determined by experiment, but at 

 present it would probably be best to 

 ship the tobacco containing about 14 per 

 cent, of moisture, which will probably 

 leave enough margin for drying during 

 transit to the United Kingdom, and still 

 ensure the arrival of the tobacco in dry, 

 good condition and free from mould. 

 This matter is also of importance in 

 order to avoid the 'heating' of the 

 tobacco during transit. If a consign- 

 ment of this tobacco is fortvarded to the 

 United Kingdom, great care should be 

 taken to see that it is not too moist 

 when shipped. 



Nicotine. — The amount of nicotine in 

 all the samples is normal. 



Nitrogen. — The quantity of nitrogen, 

 which affords a rough indication of the 

 amount of albuminoid matter in the 

 tobacco is normal in all the samples 

 analysed. 



Ash, — The percentage of ash is low in 

 all the Ceylon specimens examined. 

 Good cigar tobacco as a rule contains 

 about 20 per cent, of a9h. No inform- 

 ation is available as to the composition 

 of the soils on which these two sets of 

 Ceylon tobaccos were grown, and if the 

 experiments are continued it would be 

 of interest to have samples of the soils 

 forwarded for examination at the Im- 

 perial Institute. Judging from the 

 ashes of the tobaccos the soils must be 

 poor in comparison with those on which 

 the best kinds of cigar tobacco are 

 grown. 



The composition of the ash is in all 

 six cases very unsatisfactory. As a 

 general rule it may be stated that the 

 burning quality of a tobacco is roughly 

 proportional to the amount of potash in 

 the ash and inversely proportional 

 to the quantities of sulphates and 

 chlorides present. To a certain extent 

 potash may be replaced by lime with- 

 out serious disadvantage to the burning 

 quality. Good cigar tobacco, as stated 

 above, generally yields about 20 per 

 cent, of ash, of which at least one-fifth 

 is potash and not more than one- 

 twenty-fifth consists of chlorides and 

 sulphates, expressed in the form of 

 chlorine and sulphuric acid respec- 

 tively. In view of these data it is 

 not surprising that these Ceylon tobac- 

 cos should be all of rather poor burning 

 quality, Except in the case of the 

 sample labelled "Java No. 3 (S. Dark 

 leaf"), it was possible to overcome this 

 defect by using the tobaccos as wrap- 

 pers for cigars made up with other 

 tobaccos of good burning quality, but 



the defect will have to be avoided if 

 high class tobacco is to be produced in 

 Ceylon, The defect probably arises 

 from cultivation of the tobacco in soils 

 rich in sulphates and chlorides, or pos- 

 sibly from the use of manures contain- 

 ing these constituents. The soil ana- 

 lyses suggested above will show whether 

 the former is the true cause. 



Manures for tobacco should be rich in 

 pocash, and this is best applied in the 

 form of wood or plant ashes free from 

 chlorides and sulphates. 



The improvement of the tobacco in 

 this respect may perhaps be brought 

 about by (1) selection of soil free from 

 deleterious constituents ; (2) gradual 

 selection of those tobacco plants which 

 show least tendency to absorb sulphates 

 and chlorides from the soil ; (3) avoidance 

 of manures containing the undesirable 

 constituents mentioned. 



Appearance and Texture. 



These properties are of greater im- 

 portance in cigar tobaccos than in those 

 intended for cutting into pipe and 

 cigarette tobaccos. Both are greatly in- 

 fluenced by the method of cultivation, 

 but the appearance of the tobacco 

 depends mainly on proper curing and 

 fermentation. The proper cultivation, 

 curing and fermenting of tobacco for 

 cigars are all operations requiring great 

 skill and experience, and success can 

 scarcely be expected unless both skilled 

 supervision and experienced labour are 

 available for the purpose. 



The nine samples of tobacco forwarded 

 to the Imperial Institute all appeared to 

 be fairly well grown and contained a 

 large proportion of leaves of good sizes 

 and shapes ; and they were fairly free 

 from discolourations due to disease. 

 Their chief defects were (1) their bad and 

 uneven colours, and (2) the occurrence of 

 leaves of different colours and sizes in 

 the same sample. The first of these 

 defects is due to bad curing and fer- 

 mentation,and the second to bad grading. 

 Both are no doubt the result of the 

 absence of the skilled and experienced 

 labour essential for the proper carrying 

 out of these operations, and the defects 

 will be probably overcome if the ex- 

 periments are persisted in and oppor- 

 tunity is taken gradually to train 

 natives to do this kind of work. It is 

 satisfactory to note that the texture of 

 the leaves was on the whole good, and 

 that the coarseness typical of many East 

 Indian tobaccos was absent. 



Commercial Valuations. 

 It will be noted that the commercial 

 valuations of these samples of tobacco 



