Miscellaneous. 



182 



[February, 1909. 



to the narrowness of the leaf and thick 

 ribs, and it is difficult to name a price 

 for them. These leaves are useless for 

 wrappers, and as fillers are of very little 

 value. On the other hand, the taste and 

 flavour of this tobacco seem to show an 

 improvement on the types previously- 

 sent.' " 



A tobacco leaf expert in London, to 

 whom samples from Jaffna and Chilaw 

 were submitted for valuation, reports as 

 follows :- 



" Samples of Ceylon tobaccos duly to 

 hand. I have been waiting for the 

 further samples, or would have answered 

 earlier. I have carefully examined 

 these eight samples, and with re- 

 ference to A, Jaffna 1 to 4, smok- 

 ing kinds, I think there are good pros- 

 pects in the near future for this class 

 of tobacco, if they could be handled as 

 follows. In the first place, the tobacco 

 would have to be stripped and dried 

 down, so as not to contain more than 

 12 per cent, of moisture, and packed in 

 tubs or hogsheads of about 8 to 10 cwt. 

 each, and would realize on the present 

 market about 5itZ. to 6kf. per English lb. 



"A. Jaffna 5 and 0, chewing tobacco. 

 These would have to be treated in a 

 similar way, and would realize 5hd. to 

 Qd. per lb. 



" B. Chilaw.— These two grades are 

 very fine tobaccos, and would be very 

 useful for the Irish roll trade, but these 

 would have to be dried down to 12 per 

 cent, of moisture and well butted— that 

 is, the thick part of the stalk cut off. 

 These would fetch about tid. to 6|d. per 

 English lb. on the present market. 



" As you will understand, British 

 manufacturers are very conservative, 

 and it is very difficult to get them to 

 change their operations and to try new 

 growths of tobacco ; but I think the 

 opportunity for the latter is approach- 

 ing on account of the Tobaccc Trust 

 controlling the American market and 

 running prices up. You will readily 

 see that the tobacco markets vary con- 

 siderably according to the demand, as 

 they often jump a penny per lb. or drop 

 a penny per lb. Of course, none of 

 these tobaccos are suitable for cigars. I 

 shall be very pleased to see what you 

 can do in cigar tobacco, 



" Apologizing for not answering your 

 letter before, but I am still awaiting 

 your further types of tobaccos which 

 you mention in your letter of Septem- 

 ber 29, and shall always be happy to 

 give you what information lies in my 

 power at any time." 



Mr. K. B. Beddewela reports :— " I have 

 inspected the Dindigul tobacco plants 

 on my Ulapane property. Those plant- 

 ed early are doing well, but the growth 

 of the plants recently planted is poor. 



I have some more plants available for 

 planting out, and shall be glad to send 

 them to any who has ground ready 

 and favourable weather. I intend allow- 

 ing some of the tobacco to run into blos- 

 som with a view to raise seed. A sample 

 of cured leaves will be sent you, but if 

 you can get a cure effected by an experi- 

 enced hand I shall be glad to send leaves." 



BYuits of Heritiera littoralis. — The 

 Secretary, thinking that there might 

 possibly be a use for these fruits for the 

 manufacture of pipes (after the style of 

 the Calabash gourd pipe), submitted a 

 small lot to Messrs. Miller & Co., who 

 forwarded them to London and obtained 

 the following report : — 



"Seeds of the Heritiera littoralis. — 

 We have had a personal interview with 

 Messrs. Praukau & Co. in regard to this 

 matter, and they are satisfied that there is 

 no chance of doing any business whatso- 

 ever with these. They tell us that, in the 

 first place, the colour is against them, 

 but the chief objection is that the filling, 

 which would be necessary to prevent the 

 wood burning, would require to be of 

 such a thickness that there would be 

 absolutely no room left for the tobacco. 

 We will hold the samples here "for a 

 further opinion, but we ourselves are 

 inclined to fully agree with Messrs. 

 Fraukau & Co.'s opinion that there is no 

 future whatever before this article." 



Bioscorea: Ipomwa digilata.—A sam- 

 ple of this yam, called in Sinhalese 

 " Kiribadu," was submitted for analysis 

 to the Agricultural Chemist, who has 

 furnished the following report on it :— 



Yam. Per cent. 



Moisture 



... 900 



Total ash 



... 3-50 



Soluble ash (water) 



... 1-40 



Insoluble ash 



... 2-10 



Ether exti action 



... 2-00 



Fibre 



... 5-38 



Nitrogen 



... 1-32 



Proteids 



... 8'25 



Ash containing— 





Lime 



... 0-28 



Magnesia ... 



... 0-43 



Potash 



... T06 



Phosphoric acid 



... 0-70 



Insoluble matter 



... 0-44 



I have examined the above sample and 

 find the ordinary food analysis does not 

 show anything distinctive, such as high 

 proteids, flesh-forming material, or high 

 bone-forming material." 



The flour from the yam is very highly 

 thought of in native medicine, and is 

 prescribed for debilitated patients 

 (especially children) by some practi- 

 tioners of European medicine. 



Agricxdtural Implements : Ploughs. — 

 The Manager of Messrs. Walker, Sons & 

 Co., Ltd., writes to say that very 



