416 



Notices of Books. 



[Oct. 



ly to be lamented that experimenters should have been confined to be- 

 tween 12° and 16°, that is, to the districts of Cuddapah, Guntoor, and 

 Coimbatore. The object being to get an article similar in properties to 

 that already esteemed in the market : the plan would be to make the 

 first attempts, as failure is so apt to discourage, in the soil and climate 

 most like that whence seed is procured. Though the above districts 

 may by a different treatment be enabled to grow very good tobacco, 

 there is no doubt that the soil was either too rich for the Virginia seed, 

 or the climate too moist and warm, or perhaps both conjoined, for the 

 plants have grown so luxuriantly, that the stalks and fibres have at- 

 tained a size and coarseness, fitting them better for twisting into cables 

 than for putting into a pipe. One cultivator, indeed, states that the 

 plants grew so well, as to be twice the size of the country plants. 

 The tobacco was besides so badly packed, and worse cured, that the 

 brokers describe the different samples as 4 too dark in colour,' — 

 * thick and coarse grown,' — ' nearly all stalk ;' — and when the leaf 

 is well grown, it is pronounced ' over large, with a thick coarse stalk/ 

 — 1 unpleasant or musty in flavour,' — ' worm-eaten,' — * not properly 

 cured,' — 1 packed in a damp state,' — and that, as articles of commerce, 

 they are ' not marketable,' — or 1 of no value ;' — and of the best 

 it was said, that some tobacco from Holland of much better quali- 

 ty, had been sold under 2d. per pound. 



" These facts are sufficiently discouraging, and were it not for the 

 author's confidence, that they are the necessary result of inattention to 

 principles, it might perhaps be considered more prudent to withhold 

 them when recommending a new culture. But as others might commit 

 the same mistakes, it is proper at once to meet the difficulty, that we 

 may at the same time suggest a remedy. Besides, the tobacco of Ar- 

 racan and that from Bombay has shown that even without the aid of 

 foreign seed, some of very superior quality may be grown in India ; 

 while the following facts prove that by careful management, Virginia 

 seed may be made to yield a good crop, even in the rich soil and climate 

 of Bengal. This tobacco was imported in the Sir T. Munro, and pro- 

 duced from Virginia seed sown in the garden of the Agricultural Socie- 

 ty of Calcutta : ' the method pursued in its cultivation and preserva- 

 tion is that generally adopted by the Americans.' This specimen was 

 submitted by the Court of Directors to the examination of some dealers 

 and manufacturers in London, who pronounced it to be 1 the best sam- 

 ple of Indian tobacco they had ever seen. In flavour and general 

 appearance of the leaf, it approaches the descriptions which are usually 

 selected here for manufacturing into cigars, and for smoking in a pipe, 

 namely, Havannah, St. Domingo, and Ameersfoorth (Dutch) : all of 

 which command high prices in relation to other kinds of leaf tobacco. 

 A portion of this sample has been made into cigars here, which are 



