Tobacco as a Farm Crop for England. 
227 
that they were over-manured. Yellow tobacco undeniably 
proved it, and this fact was subsequently detected in a chemical 
analysis. I thus arrived at facts which might have taken 
years to discover, had the yellow varieties not been grown. 
Q. — I gather then that the discovery that yellow tobacco 
could be grown in England is of value ? 
A. — Yes ; not only on account of the discovery made respect- 
ing manure, but because, if you refer to the trade reports in the 
' Times,' in which tobacco is mentioned, you will see that it is 
only bright tobacco that keeps its price ; and the demand for it 
in America is so great that some yellow tobacco, after being 
shipped here from America, has been re-exported. This variety, 
and the kind known as " Big Frederick," I consider to be the 
most suited to the English soil. Messrs. Carter & Co. are strongly 
of this opinion, and they are corroborated by Mr. Wingham's 
analysis. 
Q. — You did not cut all your tobacco at the same time ? 
A. — Not all at the same time. This was of course a new 
departure in agriculture, and as we were trying to discover the 
best methods of cultivating and curing the tobacco, in order to 
ascertain what effect the weather had on that left standing, we 
cut it at intervals of every few days. 
Q. — Could you not have cut and dried the tobacco at the 
same time with less expense ? 
A. — Certainly with less expense, but also with less experience. 
Q. — You did not regard expense, then ? 
A. — That is hardly the case. I did not willingly incur 
unnecessary expense ; but when 1 thought my object could be 
attained by an additional outlay of money or trouble, I never 
grudged it, since I wished to make the experiment as conclusive 
as possible. Mr. Wigan's expenses, amounting to a little under 
20J. for half an acre, are a more correct guide to the cultivator 
than mine, which are entirely conjectural, but which could not 
have amounted to less than 60Z. for the same extent of ground. 
Q. — You are not quite certain as to your various experiments ? 
A. — The experiments were so numerous and complicated 
that during the time of growing, drying and stripping, it was 
extremely difficult to keep a strictly accurate record. 
Q. — Have you any knowledge of the curing of tobacco in 
addition to what you gained from your own experience? 
A. — I have gained information from the admirable report of 
the American Government, and from Mr. Jenkins's paper in the 
Royal Agricultural Society's ' Journal,' * on the cultivation and 
drying of tobacco on the Continent. 
* Vol. sxii., 18S6, p. 729 et seq. 
Q 2 
