July, 1910.] 



31 



Edible Products, 



planted in old cotton land has come 

 on well, some of the trees being 7'— 8' feet 

 high and having 24—26 leaves a tree, 

 some of the biggest being topped and 

 all show a good strong growth. The 

 lower leaves, where ripe, have been 

 picked and the quality is good though 

 a little coarse. I consider that the 

 Sumatra seed as compared with Java 

 will give us the best quality, though 

 up to now the Sumatra plants are not 

 as big. The second lot of nurseries 

 show an enormous improvement on 

 those first planted, quite 90 % of the 

 seed having come up as against under 

 20 % in the first nursery, and as soon 

 as we get a little rain to enable us to 

 level off the ground the whole of the 

 small plants will be planted out. 



One drying shed will be completed 

 this week, and the other put in hand 

 at once, and should be ready by the 

 end of this month. 



Taking the experiment as a whole, 

 it is early to say much as to what 

 the results will be, but I consider 

 that one thing has already been proved, 

 and that is, that the soil is admirably 

 suited for tobacco, and also that tobacco 

 does not require too strong a soil, as 

 the first tobacco planted was on old 

 land which has had tobacco and cotton 

 and rubber planted on it in the last 

 two years, and yet tobacco planted this 

 year has come on well. Also the land 

 does not seem to be so much infested 

 by " poochies," as most of the Sumatra 

 land is, and the third thing to which 

 I would draw attention is that on no 

 account must the bigger trees be topped 

 until the lower or foot leaves have 

 been picket!, otherwise the quality will 

 suffer. 



I should like to see a good deal more 

 interest taken in the experiment by the 

 Jaffna, and Dumbara, and other culti- 

 vators of tobacco, as yet no one from 

 either of these places has come to try 

 and learn the new methods of culti- 

 vation, and this cannot be from fear 

 of fever or on account of the difficulty 

 of getting to the place, and this seems 

 to be more strange considering the 

 agitation there was in certain quarters 

 for something to be done to improve 

 tobacco. 



EDWARD COWAN. 



3rd June, 1910. 



Report Dated 13th May. 



Nurseries. — The new nurseries are 

 coming on well, the Sumatra seed 

 should be ready to plant about 15th 



May and the Java seed about the end 

 of May. 



Progress.— The tobacco planted first 

 will, I hope, be ready to pick the lower 

 (or foot) leaf when I next visit on 24th 

 instant, and we shall then be able to 

 judge of the quality of the tobacco; so 

 far it has grown well and the leaves 

 are very big, and if sufficient tain comes 

 to wash out the soil, I have every hope 

 of a good quality of leaf. I would draw 

 attention to the fact that this first 

 planted tobacco has been gi own on the 

 worst of the soil that has had cotton 

 and tobacco planted before, and has had 

 little or no rest, so that if this tobacco 

 grows well one can assume that tobacco 

 can be grown on almost any soil, and 

 this would do away with the theory 

 that tobacco must have new soil or soil 

 that has lain fallow for some years. 



Sheds. — I hope by the next visit to 

 find one shed ready to receive the 

 tobacco, but the work has been delayed 

 by various reasons, and especially by 

 the difficulty of getting a contractor 

 in the place of the late Mr. Dabre. 



Labour is still insufficient for our 

 needs, but I hear Mr. Kanagasabai is 

 sending some twelve coolies, and I hope 

 that he will be able to send us more as 

 they are badly needed. 



EDWARD COWAN, 

 Supt., Tobacco Experiment, 

 13th May, 1910. 



THE TOBACCO TRADE. 



Present Position. 



(Prom the Indian Trade Journal, Vol. 

 XVII., No. 217, May 26, 1910.) 

 A correspondentconfcributes the follow- 

 ing article to the Times' Financial and 

 Commercial Supplement : — Since last re- 

 viewing the conditions existing in the 

 tobacco trade a very trying twelve 

 months have been experienced. It is 

 true that the dominating concern in 

 the industry was able to report an 

 iuctease of £127,900 in its profits, 

 but it consists of a combination of 

 such powerful interests, with such an 

 aggregation of capital, as practically 

 to place it beyond the influence of 

 ordinary trade fluctuations. The de- 

 pression of the past year could not be 

 justly described as an " ordinary trade 

 fluctuation," siuce it was the diiect out- 

 come of the raising of the duty on 

 tobacco by the previously unheard of 

 figure of8rf. per lb, to 3s. Sd. per lb., 

 whereas it would seem to have been 

 accepted by former Chancellors of the 



