August i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
85 
junior men who have recently left the Agricultural 
School, as their work would be under the general super- 
vision of Mr. Chelliah. 
9. In view of the important results secured, I would 
suggest you should communicate this letter to Go- 
vernment and obtain permission for its being com- 
municated to the newspapers in hopes it may allay 
the cry of paddy not paying, which has of late been 
revived. — lam, <ftc, (Signed) E. Elliott, Govt. Agent. 
Galle. Batticaloa, 
Area cultivated- 
acre 
Seed sown 
Ploughing with 
improved plough 
Hire of Cattle 
Do of Coolies 
Do with Native 
plough 
Repairing Dams, 
&c. 
Seed Paddy 
Sowing 
Fencing 
Weeding 
Tapping 
Manure 
Reaping and thrash 
ing 
m 
.A. 
0-12 2 B 
I B 12 B 12| B 
c. 
R 
c. 
R 
c. 
R 
c. 
R 
c. 
R 
c. 
01 
2 
01 
4 
02 
90 
0 
90 
1 
80 
l< 
50 
9 
97 
15 
47 
35 
1 
35 
2 
70. 
20 
1 
20 
2 
40 
3 
00 
7 
85 
10 
85 
60 
3 
00 
3 
60 
1 
00 
16 
00 
17 
00 
16 
1 
25 
3 
41 
8 - 
85 
4 
19 
l:; 
01 
00 
0 
00 
0 
00 
2 
00 
3 
60 
5 
60 
85 
0 
86 
1 
71 
1 
10 
1 
50 
2 
60 
86 
0 
85 
1 
71 
0 
00 
0 
00 
0 
00 
36 
1 
36 
2 
72 
0 
00 
0 
00 
0 
00 
25 
3 
50 
7 
75 
9 
90 17 
00 
26 
90 
54 
16 
28 
31 
82 
3'] 
35 
60 
11 
91 
46 
Crop— Bushels 
Cost per bushel 
Value of crop 
Deduct grain tux 
Net profit, Bay 
Value of land 160 
Percentage on capital in- 
vested 40 p. c. 
36 284 64i 118| 189J 
•43 -57 . -51 -26 -31 
307| 
•29k 
R66 
64 
R308 
14 
294 
420 
70p. c. 
SOMETHING ABOUT TOBACCO. 
A planter of wide experience in the island writes to 
us as follows : — 
It has always been strange to me that European 
capital was never invested in tobacco in Oeylon, The 
plant has been cultivated by the natives from time 
immemorial. Whether the Mahawanso has any meniiou 
of it I do not know, but long before the EDglish came 
here tobacco was grown in various parts of the island, 
and is so still. It is not necessary to refer to the large 
area in Jaffna cultivated with the leaf, but, if anyone 
journeys through Uva, iu the villages in the Badulla 
district, and throughout Udakiude, little plots of tobacco 
and in some cases solitary plants placed along the 
lower sides of drains cut in a cabbage garden, are 
invariably to be seen. I have even met with it as high 
up as Wilson's Buugilow and the villages below 
Haputale, whilst lower down by Dikwella and on to- 
wards Passera the plant grows very luxuriantly. Whe 1 
I first came to Ceylon in the sixties, and for some 
time afterwards, we used to smoke nothing else but 
Uva cigars made and grown in Uva, and very good 
they were too. Now I think all the tobacco grown 
there is used by the natives. It grows freely to my 
knowledge throughout the Jaffna peuinsula, the Eastern 
Province, and iu a part of the Southern, and in the 
greater part of the North-Central Provinces. Any 
attempt to grow it in the Western Province will end 
iu failure, in my opinion. As for the Kanthalai scheme 
of the Oeylon Tobacco Company, they will have to be 
very careful of floods in the rainy season. When I was 
last there the country around was all uuder water. It 
was early in December four years ago. But it will yrvxi 
splendidly over a large area of the island. All that is 
wanted is an experienced Dutch planter to teach us how 
to ouro it. To obtain the services of a reliable, trust- 
worthy, and experienced tobacco planter would cost a 
lot of money. He would require high pay, and it will 
be difficult to get just the man wanted. Par better send 
down a smart man from this to learn the work . 
— Local "Times." 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN TRTNCOMALEE. 
Traders from Jaffna have come here with orders 
from their respective firms to buy tobacco, and my 
modest estimate of the money that will flow into Trin- 
comalee by this source is K50,000. It is evident from 
the rush of these men that there is keen competition 
among them — so much the better for the local tobacco- 
growers. A fortnight more will have to pass before 
the leaves attain the stage required to make them 
marketable ; but, notwithstanding this fact, advances 
have been made and cultivators are having a good 
time of it. 
While on this subject I will describe for the infor- 
mation of such of your readers as are interested in 
tobacco cultivation the mode or process adopted in 
this country for growing and curing it. Iu the month 
of September the seeds are sown in an enclosed Dursery 
and watered daily till November, when they are re- 
moved and planted on the land selected for the pur- 
pose, at a distance of about 1J cubits from each other. 
The soil, of course, must have been well manured 
with cow-dung for at least a month, and ploughed 
well once or twice, before the plantiog commenees.- 
As the seedlings are deposited in their places, shady, 
branches of jungle) trees are also deposited a few inches, 
from the plant, the leaves of which serve to keep off 
the sun from the tender plants placed under their 
protection. Water is poured over the plants rather 
sparingly every morning and every evening for a fort- 
night, and as they take life and grow the now already 
dried-up withered jungle branches are pulled out and 
the soil round about the plants is dug and loosened, 
rendering the shooting of the roots easier. After fifteen 
days the plant is watered profusely once a day. An- 
other fortnight or twenty days more the soil under- 
goes hoeing again, which is done with the greatest 
care so that the young plant is not injured. On the 
day of hoeing, as well as the following day, no water- 
ing takes place, the plants being left to droop a little. 
After hoeing, the ground is divided into small beds, 
having four plants standing, one at each of the four 
corners of the beds ; while the water is let inside the 
bed from the third day, as usual once a day. About 
twenty or twenty-five days after, the crown or the bud 
of the plant is nipped off. The leaves that hitherto 
were wanting in sap for th' ir growth by re ason of 
the greater part of it being carried up to the top by 
the main channel of the stump or trunk, now receive 
the bulk of it, and luxuriantly thrive. Once iu every 
week the trees are inspected, and the branches broken 
off. Rain is wanted at intervals of a fortnight, parti- 
cularly during January, February, and Ma-eb. Thus 
nursed, at the sixth month after its planting the tree 
is cut down entirely and hung downward in a shed 
through which the breeze plays freely, but the sun is 
not allowed to enter. Left here for twelve or fifteen 
days, the verdure of the leaves changes into a brown 
color, when the trees are taken down and piled one 
over the other and covered with dry plantain leaves, 
where they lie for another twelve days. On the 
thirteenth day the leaves are separated from the trunk, 
sorted into three kinds or thanisu ( the best, the second 
rate, and the refuse) made into bundles of twenty 
leaves each, and pile^ again in the same way as before. 
This is the crown g operation, letting the leaves 
remain there for ten or twelve days. The trader then 
comes and buys them at prices ranging from RIO to 
R18 a thulam, a thulam being twenty-four bundles of 
twenty leaves each. The process of curing tobacco in 
this cou'itry differs widely from the method followed in 
Jaffna, wh --re smoke has much to do in the process of 
curing. Smoke is never utilized for Trincomalee tobaoco. 
I herewith send a parcel containing two leaves of 
tobacco as sample mostly cultivated here, and eag rly 
sought after by the Jaffna traders. — Cor. Local "Times.' 
