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



469 



will be higher, the quality better, sorting and 

 manufacturing better and more economically 

 undertaken, &c. ; in one word, the cost of pro- 

 duction reduced and quality greatly improved. 



(4) To organise a centre (or if found neces- 

 sary several, according to class of tobacco and 

 district) for tobacco preparing or packing, i.e., 

 warehouses, where eventually sales can take 

 place. 



It is thought that this should be done by 

 scientific and commercial investigations com- 

 bined, i.e., with regard to its culture, pre- 

 paring, and manufacture. With agricultural 

 experiments only it is feared that no results will 

 be arrived at. 



Tobacco work in Ceylon should be indepen- 

 dent of the general agriculture work, for to- 

 bacco is much more an industry than purely 

 agriculture, and almost all questions regarding 

 tobacco are still to be solved in Ceylon, i.e., 

 field work, curing, commercial, and the manu- 

 facturing either for export or local consumption. 



The tobacco industry being so specialised, 

 with such large numbers of branches and sub- 

 branches, no quick and good results can be 

 expected if work of tobacco investigation is not 

 undertaken by a " Tobacco expert," thoroughly 

 trained for the work of tobacco investigation. 

 Besides having made scientific tobacco field 

 work, curing, and further preparation for 

 different markets his speciality, he must 

 have a practical experience of; curing and manu- 

 facturing cigar, cigarette, and pipe tobacco, so 

 as to enable him to be a judge of leaf tobacco. 

 He also should have wide experience of other 

 tobacco-producing countries, so as to be able 

 to conclude in a minimum time which kinds 

 of tobacco have the best chances of success 

 in Ceylon. His first work should consist of ac- 

 quiring a firm knowledge of local conditions, 

 and organising the local industry, and laying 

 out plans for the investigation work, and con- 

 ducing the most important experiments in 

 several localities which are the most promising 

 at the same time. 



Three years of carefully planned, intelligently 

 observed, and accurately recorded experiments 

 conducted by an expert will be of more service 

 than twenty years of careless experiments or 

 inaccurate observations carried on, however 

 conscientiously, by an ordinary planter. 



With an annual vote of say 1140,000 for about 

 three years, I consider the tobacco work can 

 be put on a sound basis, 



EXPERIMENTAL CULTIVATION OF 

 INDIGO FOR MANURIAL PURPOSES. 



Preparation of the Soil and Sowing. 

 The soil should be forked as deeply as possible; 

 on level ground it should be ploughed and 

 cross-ploughed, twice each way ; it must then 

 be somewhat levelled with rakes or other suit- 

 able means, immediately before sowing. The 

 seed is to be thrown broadcast from out of a 

 cloth suspended from the shoulders of the sower. 

 About 40 lb. of seed should be thrown per acre. 

 Men experienced in sowing hill paddy (Chena 

 rice) should be employed for this work. After 

 sowing, the soil should be smoothed down and 

 the seed pressed into it by an ordinary roller on 

 level ground and on hilly ground by a roll of 

 gunny cloth, about 5 feet long and 3 inches in 

 diameter filled with sand. The sand bag should 

 have cords sewn on, one foot apart (one cord 

 also at each end), joined together at a conven- 

 ient distance and this sandroll is to be drawn 

 over the soil after sowing. It will yield to the 

 unevenness of hilly ground and press the seed 

 into the soil. The seed can be sown whenever 

 there is a little moisture in the soil, say after 

 one inch of rain. April and May are suitable 

 months for sowing in Ceylon. 



Cutting the Plant and Preparing the 

 Manure. 



When the Indigo plants are about 4 feet 

 high (which will be about four months after 

 sowing) they should be cut down with a prun- 

 ing knife, leaving about 6 inches of the stalk 

 in the ground. The cut plant should be 

 evenly gathered and made into bundles to 

 carry them conveniently to the manure pit. 

 A manure pit for 4 acres cultivation should be 

 about 30 feet long, 15 feet broad and 4 feet 

 deep ; it should be lined well with clay, to make 

 it as water-tight as possible. The pit ought 

 to be near water, or a small well be dug along- 

 side. The day before the plant is cut, 2 feet 

 of water should be put into the pit, by a 

 hand pump or other convenient means. All the 

 4 acres ought to be cut in the morning on one 

 day, the bundles taken to the pit, opened out 

 and the plant evenly put into the pit. Small 

 bamboos, the breadth of the pit (15 feet) should 

 be put over the plant, one foot apart, 5 thick 

 bamboos (30 feet long) should then be put 

 lengthways over the smaller bamboos, two 

 close to the sides of the pit, the other three 

 at equal distances from each other, and these 

 should be tied on to the smaller bamboos to 

 make a sort of framework over the plant. Heavy 

 stones should now be put in each corner over. 



