December i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AQmCULTUftlST- 
LATAKIA TOBACCO. 
A writer in the Oeographiscfie Naclvrichten of Bisle, 
on the cultivation of tobacco in the Ottoman Empire, 
says that Lalakia, which gives its name to the famous 
tobacco, is a small seaport in Northern Syria, which 
occupies the site of the ancient Laodicea, but 
the port has been Mocked up with eaud, so that 
only small, lightly-laden boats can enter. Behind 
the town extends a vast plain to the south beyond 
Jibleh as far as the range of hills in which live the Au- 
sarr h, the descendants of the sect of assassins so famous 
in the time of the Crusades. This tribe is specially 
engaged in the cultivation of Latakia tobacco. At the 
end of December the grouud is irrigated, and the sow- 
ing takes place in January, ten or 12 see Is being placed 
in a sing e hole made with a .--tick. As soon as the 
sprouts appear above the g ound thev are covered with 
mats, winch are raised ou y when ihe sun is up. The 
women and children are employ ed in keeping off the 
birds, and in weeding out the weaklings. In February 
the sprouts are transplanted to another field, where the 
earth is piled up well about them, in March they are kept 
well watered, and in April the harvest commences. 
The first leaves form what is called the new tobacco, and 
is smoked with delight by the Fellahs themselves, it be- 
iug stronger than that obtained subsequently. From 
April to August the plants mu'-t be watere ! according 
to the state of the weather, and must receive general 
attention. The real harvest takes place in August and 
September. The plant is cut, the leaves removed, tied in 
bundles, and placed on mats to dry in the sun. In 
November this process is finished, the tobacco is placed 
in horse-ha'r sacks, and put on the market. The mer- 
chants subject the leaves to a new drying and then sort 
them according to colour, perfume, and general quality. 
There are in all three qualities, of which the finest is 
obtainable only from the more elevated plantations of 
the Ansariehs. The plain of Koura, at the foot of Le- 
banon, also gives excellent Syrian tobacco, the best 
quality of which is very seldom seen in Europe. It 
leaves a white ash, while Oriental tobaccos as a rule 
leave a black or dark gray ash. Other inferior qualities 
are yielded elsewhere in Syria. In Turkey proper the 
chief centre cf cultivation is Drama in the Salonica 
province. This district gives about 700,000 kilos, an- 
nually, the best quality going to Constantinople, and 
the inferior to Russia. Pravista gives a poor tobacco, 
which all goes to Europe. In various other districts of 
Turkey in Europe tobacco is pro luced ; as a rule it is 
very inferior, and goes either to Austria or Russia. 

ROPES FOR FIBRES. 
So much has been writ'en of late years with regard 
to the adaptability of our native fibres for various pur- 
poses, that it would be superfluous for me to attempt 
to go over the same grouud again, but I cannot refrain 
from making a few remarks on the large quantity of 
ropes of various sizes imported and used in the Island, 
while rope-making materials grow everywhere in 
abundance. This latter faot is recognized, and taken 
advautage of by the peasantry, indeed many of them 
partly make a living by the sale of ropes, tdiort lengths 
— usually about 25 feet long, and headstalls made of 
fibres from the barks of trees. 
The barks mostly used for this purpose are the 
•'Mahoe" (Hibiscus elatus, L.) '-Trumpet tree " (Oe- 
cropia peltata, L.) and " Burn nose " (Daphnopsis tini- 
folia, Gr.) ; leaf-fibres are also made use of to some 
extent, and it is a pity that they are not entirely used 
instead of bark-fibres. Very strong ropes are made from 
the fibre obtained from the leaves of the " Keratto " 
(Agave Morrisii, Bak.) "Pinguin" (Bromelia Pinguin, 
L.) "Banana'" (Musa Fapientum, L.) &c. ; also from 
theaerial roots of a species of Ficus. 
The fibres named are those most generally used, but 
there are plenty of others equally valuable, and some 
of them, are very common in certain districts, c. g. 
"Ippi-Appi" (Carludovica Plumieri, Ktb.). ' Silver 
Thatch" (Thrinax argentea Lodd.), " Ochra " (Hibi>cus 
Abelmoschus, L.), " Dagger Plant " (Yucca aloifolioa 
L.), several Bpeoies of Urotolaria which are common 
weeds, " Pine-Apple." (Ananas sativa, Lindl.), "Aloe" 
(Furcraa cubenBie, Haw.) and many other plants to be 
had in abundance, yield good, strong fibres suitable for 
makiug ropes ami c miag-i. Nearly every peatant is 
the owner of one or more head ot stock, and hen quires 
rope not only for reins, but also to tie loads on the 
animals' back aud for a score of other uses. Whee 
we look at the matter in this light we can form soma 
idea of the large quantity of rope which must be an- 
nually required. The use of barks for this purpose 
should be discouraged, except perhaps the " Trumpet 
tree" which is very p entiful every where and, as far as 
I am aware, is of no other value. Th i " Mahoe tree " 
which yields the bark most prized, also yields one of 
our most beautiful snd va'usible native woods, and in 
country districts where this tree is plentiful hundreds 
are killed every year through being stripped of their 
bark for rope making. I have only alluded to the rope 
r. quired by tha p- a-antry, but there is no rea-ion way 
every bit used in the island should not be made here. 
The machinery n cessary for the manufacture of rope 
is I believe, simple, and might be, worked under the 
superintendence of any intelligent persou. The raw 
materials are plentiful, and the demand for t^e rnanu- 
tac ured article, if offered at reasonable rates, would, 
lam sure, be steady and good. I f el confident tnat a 
fortune awaits the man with sufficient means and 
courage to start this industry. He might begin by 
manufacturing r >pes of various qualities and size , and 
when he gains sufficient experience of the re ative va ues 
of the fibres at his command, and his work ptople under- 
stood the working of the machinery, &c. he could intro- 
duce the manufacture of bags of different kinds. The 
number of these annually required for coffee, cocoa, 
and pimento, not to mention many other things for 
which they are used, must be simply enormous. These 
are small matters, comparatively speaking, and though 
the total spent ou rope and bags by a single member, 
or estate during the year, may not amount to much, 
yet, taking the whole island, the money expended on 
these two necesiary articles must be a very respectable 
sum, — W. Haeris. — Jamaica Bulletin. 
CASTOR OIL PLANT. 
The Castor Oil plant (Ricinus communis, L.) is now 
extensively cultivated in India and the United States, 
and the oil, if carefully extracted, is a valuable pro- 
duct. As the plant grows in Jamaica like a weed, it 
would probably pay to cultivate it. On many sugar 
estates, it is found necessary to allow the land to go 
into ruinate, piece by piece, in order that it may re- 
cover from the exhaustion incidental to the growth 
of the cane when sufficient manure has not been 
appled. In Europe, rotation of crops, as well as arti- 
fiical manures, have taken the place of the old method 
of leaving the ground fallow, and it is possible that 
castor oil may be a suitable plant to succ ed the 
sugar-cane, and to grow in exhaus'ed Cuff e fields. 
In some parts of the world, it is grown merely for 
the sake of improving the laud. The refuse of the 
s"eds after the extraction of the oii, is also a valuable 
manure. The soil best suited for the Cas'O' - Oil is 
a saudy loam. Tnere are a great number of v rieries 
sown with small and others with large seeds. The 
small see Is are considered to afford the be^t oil for 
medicinal purposes, and it is therefore a ivisable to 
cultivate only these varieties. The cultivation is sim- 
ple, and similar to that of corn (maize). The yie'd 
varies from 15 to 50 bushels (of 46 lb ) to the acre; 
and 100 lb, of good seed yield about 5 gallons of oil. 
In order to harvest the seed, the best plan is to cut 
the pods when they are just turning brown and put 
them on a barbecue. When the pods bh.ve all burst, 
the empty husks can be picked up, and the seeds 
swept together and collected. The same care should 
be taken as in coffee, cocoa anu pimanto to prevent 
rain touching the seeds; if there are more than 50 
acres under cultivation, a drying house is necessary. 
To extract the oil the simplest way is to bruise the 
seeds in a mortar and then boil them in bags under 
water. The use of the bags is to retain mucilaginous 
matter a id orther impurities, while the oil rises to 
the surface, is drawn off, strained, and bottled. But 
oil prepired in this way, is only fit for lucubration, 
illumination, &o., not for medicinal purpos«s. The 
