November, 1908. J 



445 



Edible Products- 



of the European market is the aroma. 

 Experiments have been made for many 

 years in the United States of North 

 America and elsewhere to find out the 

 conditions determining the type of leaf 

 grown. The question of aroma is an 

 exceedingly difficult one, aud so far 

 beyond the grasp of ordinary chemists 

 but little progress has been made on 

 the investigations from a purely chemical 

 point of view. That it is due to numer- 

 ous substances besides nicotine has been 

 fully established, as the best varieties 

 of cigar leaf tobacco obtained from Cuba 

 have very small nicotine contents, while 

 the aroma is very powerful. 



It is said, by some people that this is 

 entirly due to the process of fermenta- 

 tion used by the curers of different 

 neighbourhoods, and some people have 

 gone so far as to state that it is possible 

 to produce a bacterium culture which 

 will give the true Havana flavour to 

 any cigar tobacco- 



It is a very disputed point at present, 

 however, as to whether the fermenta- 

 tion is due to organic or inorganic fer- 

 mentation ; and it is extremely doubt- 

 ful, until this point has been definitely 

 cleared up, as to whether any result so 

 definite as this may be accomplished. 

 Some progress, however, has been made 

 in the knowledge of the constituents 

 of the tobacco leaf, aud it is maintained 

 in some quarters that the difference 

 in the practical destruction of some of 

 these constituents accounts for the 

 differences in flavour of the products. 

 A great amount of work has also been 

 done on the influence of various man- 

 ures on the quantities of these consti- 

 tuents. 



So much has been brought to light 

 on this matter, that the question of 

 manuring becomes a subject of even 

 greater range than that in the case of the 

 cultivation of other plants. It is still 

 disputed by many workers that the 

 quantity of nicotine in the leaf is affect- 

 ed by the amount of nitrogen in the 

 mauure, but these people are in the 

 minority. 



There is now a general tendency to 

 the belief that the nicotine content of the 

 leaf varies considerably with the amount 

 of application of manurial nitrogen. It 

 is also fairly certain that the quantities 

 of albuminoids in the leaf vary largely at 

 the same time as the nicotine. This is 

 a very important point, as it is extreme- 

 ly probable that it is owing to the 

 presence of these albuminoids that the 

 rankness of certain tobaccos is due. 



It is perhaps for this reason that 

 Havana tobacco, although containing a 



low percentage of nicotine is yet the finest 

 flavoured and most eagerly sought to- 

 bacco of all. It will not be out of place 

 here perhaps to mention that the classes 

 of soil in this case largely affect the type 

 of tobacco produced. A rich heavy soil 

 is apparently favourable to the produc- 

 tion of a high percentage of nicotine, 

 and it must here be pointed out that 

 the albuminoids vary with the nicotine, 

 while a light sandy soil containing little 

 organic matter produces a leaf with 

 little nicotine. Turning to another im- 

 portant point in the value of tobacco 

 produced, we come to the consideration 

 of the burning qualities of the leaf as 

 effected by manures. 



Enough work has been done on this 

 subject to fill a volume by itself, but 

 it will suffice here to show one or two 

 of the main points connected with the 

 subject. 



It is generally conceded that the pre- 

 sence of chlorine in any quantity very 

 badly influences the burning quality of 

 the leaf produced, but it must be at the 

 same time pointed out that the presence 

 of potash to a large extent modifies the 

 effect of this constituteut. It was first 

 determined by Nesslerfrom examination 

 of forty-six samples of tobacco grown 

 in different parts of Baden that the 

 more potash and the less chlorine a 

 leaf contains, the longer it will con- 

 tinue to glow when lighted. 



The higher the percentage of potash, 

 the more chlorine may exist in the 

 leaf without damaging the burning 

 powers. In connection with this, an 

 interesting point is mentioned by M. 

 P. Richard (Couplus Rendus 1899"; 128. 

 10 615-617) who has proved that the 

 nitric acid of the soil has a tendency to 

 enter into tobacco in the form of 

 potassium nitrate and to fix in that 

 form the potash of clays aud silicates. 



In the chlorine of the soil, which also 

 tends to fix potassium as chloride in 

 the tobacco plant, the nitric acid has 

 a competitor, and the result depends 

 on the relative quantites of the two 

 constituents. If the nitrates of the soil 

 are deficient, the chlorides predominate 

 in the plant and vice versa. 



Hence the best lands for growing 

 good burning tobacco should contain 

 plenty of nitrates. Old village lands 

 are said in India to be very good to- 

 bacco-producing lauds, and the large 

 part of its success on such lands might 

 easily be supposed to be the predomi- 

 nance of nitrates in such soils. 



Experiments made by Schlcesing on 

 the same subject proved that chlorine 



