November, 1911.] 



453 



Miscellaneous. 



(c) Production of seedlings were bad ; 

 d) Seed used was not bred for the 

 purpose ; 



(e) No proper manuring appears to 

 have been applied having regard 

 to the bad burning qualities of 

 last year's tobacco crop. 



Tobacco Shed-— With regard to the 

 shed (of which I also enclose copy of 

 photograph), my opinion is that for an 

 experimental crop, and also for a plant- 

 ation on a small scale, in general, much 

 smaller sheds are required. Sheds 

 should be of such a size that they can be 

 filled with the harvested crop in one or 

 a few days only, so that the curing can 

 be uniformly done and the leaf treated. 

 In a dry atmosphere the sheds should be 

 practically hermetically tight, but pro- 

 vided with shutters so as to control air 

 humidity iuside the shed almost at will, 

 by opening and closing the shutters 

 when required. In the first stage, for 

 instance, the drying process should be 

 slow, the ventilators should be hermeti- 

 cally closed in the daytime, and some- 

 what opened at night. After the 

 required colour is obtained, ventilation 

 could go on quicker so as to simply dry 

 the leaf. Some idea of the process is 

 given on pages 27, 38, 39, and 70 in Porto 

 Rico Bulletin of my tobacco investi- 

 gations in 1903-04 there. Au idea is also 

 given of the fermenting question on 

 pages 41-44 of the same Bulletin, and 

 both subjects are also discussed in the 

 "Transvaal Journal of Agriculture " for 

 October, 1906, No. 17. 



Opinion on the Fermented Tobacco Leaf. 



The leaf tobacco in bulk was care- 

 fully studied twice, and my conclusion 

 is that the tobacco, as was to be 

 expected, is not a success, for the 

 following reasons :— 



(1) The burning power is very bad. 

 Samples were taken of almost all grades, 

 match lighted, and the leaf carefully 

 dried first before bringing the leaf to 

 the flame. In almost all cases the leaf 

 flamed and coaled, and in no case was 

 there a sign of good fire-holding capacity 

 in the leaf. For cigar tobacco, especi- 

 ally cigar wrapper tobacco, a freely 

 burning capacity is required. 



(2) With regard to colour and size of 

 leaf, I roughly estimated that only 20 

 per cent, (mostly consisting of bottom 

 leaf only) would be suitable for ordinary 

 cigar wrapper purposes, if the bad 

 burning is into taken into consideration 

 and if the elasticity of leal is sufficient. 

 The latter point was not tested, the 



• tobacco not being in " condition." As to 

 price, that also depends how the cigars 



work out, taking into consideration how 

 many cigars can be wrapped cut of a 

 pound weight. 



(3) The flavour of the leaf is more or 

 less "raw" for want of fermentation, 

 and this is specially the case with the 

 top leaves and large part of middle leaf. 

 About 80 per cent, of the tobacco I 

 consider to be unsuitable for cigar 

 wrapper purpose— i.e., for the European 

 market (as I am informed) it was 

 intended for. 



(4) While only attempting to keep 

 light colours in the fermenting process, 

 the tobacco which might have been 

 suitable for filler tobacco has been 

 sacrificed ; as for filler tobacco ferment- 

 ation, the highest temperature should 

 in some cases be raised to about 80° so 

 as to develop flavour and aroma. 

 Fermentation also improves burning 

 capacity. 



As will be seen in the records of 

 temperature kept at the Experiment 

 Station, the maximum was only 44° in 

 one case. Considering this tobacco, the 

 temperature should gradually have been 

 raised up to about 55° for wrapper and 

 about 80° for filler purposes, which could 

 have been done if sufficient precautions 

 were taken. For the bottom leaves, 

 however, a temperature of about 40 s to 

 44° is considered to be sufficient. 



If sorting, for instance, in three 

 qualities, i.e., dry, medium, and fat, is 

 undertaken before fermentation, or 

 more simply bottom, middle, and top 

 leaves kept quite separate in the fer- 

 mentation, each kind could have been 

 fermented to its best advantage. Un- 

 necessary handling of leaf must be 

 prevented, as I found a rather large 

 percentage of broken leaf, and there- 

 fore loss of moisture should be prevented 

 as much as possible. 



Suggestions. 

 Report on the Experiment— From the 

 report at the end of February on this 

 tobacco, I notice that it was the inten- 

 tion to send some sample bales of this 

 tobacco abroad; therefore I strongly 

 suggest that this should nob be done, as 

 it will result in spoiling the reputation 

 of Ceylon-grown tobacco for the future. 

 Being produced at the Ceylon Govern- 

 ment Experiment Station, the market 

 will, of course, draw the conclusion that 

 this is one of the best kinds of tobacco 

 Ceylon is able to produce ; and the 

 tobacco being not a fair sample at all of 

 what Ceylon is capable to produce, it 

 would certainly spoil the reputation of 

 Ceylon as a tobacco-producing country, 

 which should be avoided at any cost. 



