and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— May, 1912. 



467 



pioneer tobacco work of an estate in Trin- 

 comalee, and he consequently arrived at Col- 

 ombo on January 15th, 1911. In a letter from 

 the Secretary of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 

 dated March 21st, he was informed that the 

 Tobacco Committee of^this Society requested 

 him to make a report on the present tobacco 

 experiments of the Maha Illupallama Experi- 

 ment Station, and that the Ceylon Govern- 

 ment appointed him to visit and report on 

 the Jaffna, Trincomalee, and Dumbara Dis- 

 tricts with regard to the tobacco industry gene- 

 rally, and to offer advice onllines of poissble 

 improvement. This was accepted and carried 

 out, and a separate report on the tobacco ex- 

 periments of the Maha Illuppallama Experi- 

 ment Station has been prepared and sub- 

 mitted before Mr. Van LeenhofF left the Colony 

 (May 11th). The general report for the Gov- 

 ernment was to be prepared some months 

 later, after his return to Europe, In all, his 

 stay in Ceylon was nearly four months. 



Two trips were made, one from Trincomalee 

 by steamer to Point Pedro and by carriage to 

 Jaffna, and from there via Anuradhapura'„ to 

 Maha Illuppallama, and after visiting the Ex- 

 periment Station there he returned on April 

 12th. The second trip from Trincomalee 

 consisted in visiting Kurunegala, Colombo, 

 Negombo, Chilaw, Peiadeniya, Kandy, Tel- 

 deniya, and back to Colombo on May 9th. — 

 During this second trip he had the advan- 

 tage of being accompanied by the Secretary of 

 the Ceylon Agricultural Society, Mr C Drieberg. 



Present Conditions. 



Centres.— The chief tobacco-producing cen- 

 tres at present are Jaffna, Chilaw, Batticaloa 

 and Trincomalee, Kurunegala, and Teldeniya. 



Acreage. — The approximate total acreage is 

 15,000 acres, ot which over 7,000 acres are in the 

 Northern Province (Jaffna), 3,000 in the North- 

 western Province, 3,000 in the Eastern, and 

 1,500 in the Central Province. 



Yield. — The yield per acre in hundredweights, 

 as in other countries, could not be ascertained, 

 for in Ceylon the yield is calculated by the 

 grower according to the number of leaves, On 

 an average one acre will yield 4,000 plants with 

 about 40,000 leaves. 



Pboduction and Markets.— The tobacco pro- 

 duction in Ceylon should be divided into two, 

 i.e., leaf for chewing and for cigar manufactur- 

 ing. The main market for the chewing tobacco 

 is Southern India, Travancore. The cigar to- 

 bacco leaf is sold in Ceylon (mainly Jaffna) cigar 



factories for local consumption. Packing is 

 done in coarse matting of palmyra palm leaves. 

 Packages occupy about 15 cubic feet. 



The tobacco production on the whole is very 

 slightly increasing, as long as the local market 

 for the cigar tobaccos and the Indian market for 

 chewing tobacco is good. There seems to be a 

 probability that the Indian market will before 

 long be practically shut to Ceylon tobacco as a 

 result of ao enhanced duty, in which case a 

 large section of the tobacco growers will be 

 obliged to abandon their fields or to produce a 

 quality which is suitable for European taste, and 

 therefore suitable for export to other Colonies (say 

 Australia, )<S:c.) and Europe 



Cost of Productions. 

 Opinions as to the cost of production seem 

 to differ greatly, and from most of them it 

 must be concluded that the planters are work- 

 ing at a loss, taking everything into con- 

 sideration. The only advantage seems to be 

 their labour being paid at coolies' rate. As 

 an example, however, the following extracts 

 are given. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon-Reeves states that 

 the cost of production in the Northern Province 



is as follows : — 



On Hard On Loose 



Soil for Soil for 



Chewing Smoking 



Tobacco. Tobacco. 



R R 



(a) Manuring & preparing, per acre 160 150 



(b) Watering, curing, <Sc. .. 250 170 



(c) Rent per acre ..80 48 



Total .. 490 368 



Value obtained per acre .. 700 480 



Nett profit therefore per acre .. 210 112 



Production per acre according to 

 him as to — 



Number of plants per acre . . 4,000 4,000 



Number of leaves per acre 40,000 28,000 



According to a paper read before a meeting of 

 the local Agricultural Society the results of an 

 acre were described as follows : — An acre could 

 be planted with 4,000 plants, and ^the cost pf 

 cultivation from start to finish, including cost 

 of smoking and rent of land, would at a moder- 

 ate rate be Rs 384. If the crop proves the best 

 the leaves of the 4,000 ^plants would sell for 

 about Rs 510, but an average crop may bring 

 about Rs350 to Rs450 only. 



Cost of Production. 



Rs. c. 



40 coolies for hoeing, at 15c each ... 6 

 Penning cattle for 250 days, at 16c 



per day ... ... 40 



2 pairs of bulls, ploughing for 4 days, 



at 30c per pair per day ... 2 40 



10 cart loads of leaves, at Rs 12*50 



each *4 . w 125 u 



