March i, l 888.1 THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
63 1 
grown shall bo duly produced to the proper officer 
to be charged with revenue, aud so on. A practi- 
cally free opportunity being thus afforded for 
cultivating tobacco, the question arises — Can it bo 
eonductod so as to compete with other tobacco- 
growing countries, aud to be in any degree remuner- 
ative? — It may interest many rtadcrs to know that 
a practical experiment towards the solution of this 
problem has recently been made in Aberdeen, ai.d 
with "home-grown" tobacco, part of which was 
"raised" on Detside. Me.-srs William Rattray and 
.Sons, tobacco manufacturers, Quern .Street, have 
just completed the manufacture into "roll" and 
" cut " tobacco of some tobacco leaf grown at 
Glasterberry, Poterculter, and in Sussex, by Mr Thomas 
Jamiesou, p. c. I., of tho Agricultural Resea eh 
Association. The samples of h at which Mr Jarnieson 
submitted from his Sussex farm appeared to Messra 
Rattray to have more nearly approached maturity 
than those produced at Glasterberry, but both uere 
very far from being ripe; aud, in consequence, the 
roauufaotui ed article was very deficient in the flavour 
which American tobacco po sesses. The leaves were 
well formed, and were in every respect suited for 
the purposes of roll-spinning had they been allowed 
to arrive ut maturity before beiug cut; but for cut 
tobacco the samples were unsuitable, principally 
from the want of colour. We understand, however, 
that the samples wero planted late and pulled 
early, and so were not quite up to the marls of 
what might possibly ho piodu^ed. 
The possibilities of tobacco-growing in this coun- 
try, however, are hardly in question. Tobacco has 
been grown ill all parts of temperate and torrid 
zones: it has been grown before now in some parts 
of Scotland and Ireland. Bui the serious question 
that iutending tobacco cultivators have to lace is 
whether they will bo able to produce au article 
capab o of competing with the American article. 
American tobacco, in fact, may be said to " bold 
the field" alike in geueral acceptability and in price ; 
it is the only growth that has found anything 
like universal consumption. For several years past 
tobacco-growing in America lias been a very profit- 
able business for agriculturists acquainted with the 
method of culture, and who ku- w how to hand 
tab plants over in good condition to tho " stemmer," 
who prepares it for tho market. But tho huge profits 
have had th"o natural tendency of greatly developing 
the cultivation of tobacco, tho cons, qui nee being that 
there is now a far too large quantity grown, and 
that the price of the article has reached a very 
low figure. The Western 7'obaccv Journal (of Cincin- 
nati) actually writes deploring the "depressed" 
condition of the tobacco trade and the tobacco farmer, 
and prophesying that, unless the crop be considerably 
restricted and greatly improved this year, a wide- 
spread disaster will overtake those engaged iu tobacco- 
planting. Kor some seasons back, mere attention has 
been paid to quantity thau to quality, and now the 
journal named makes a vigorous appeal for the 
production of "good ami fine leaf." Here is what 
it says — addressed, he it observed, to men practically 
acquainted with tobacco-growing mid experienced in 
its culture — "A good crop cannot bo obtained un- 
less the leed is pure and no planter should attempt 
to how seed iu which he has no' absolute confidence 
as to origin anil pedigree. If it ia many removes 
from the original, or from defective or carelessly- 
cultivated plants, tin' cr.p will be bad, no matter 
how intelligently or energetically it is Worked and 
handled. You cannot produce a good Jersey Or 
■borthoru from • scrub or bybird of these breeds." 
And ngaiu — " The essentials to reeoveiy from the 
pru-eut absolutely depie.--.f i condition ol the tODOCCO 
trade nro : — A crop grown from nothing but the 
best i>l seed, n cr"p tl. at, so fur as acreage in con- 
cerned, will rover I ■< r lo-s than tho average crop, 
lint which will b- cultivated and handled with more 
Intelligence, caution, and energy than the pa- 1 few 
crof b. ' Hie British laruu r, . her. fore, ftUl Mart 
lobefiCO-frOW ing umi ticapped by an Ann-noun eom- 
po ition us formidable as tho competition m r,raiu 
aud beef, and utterly unable, from want of experience, 
to adapt himself to the new exigencies created by 
that very competition; and we are informed that 
even in the event of British farmers being able to 
grow first-class quality of tobacco — the probability of 
which may very well be doub'ed — they would likely 
be unable to command the highest prices from the 
manufacturers, partly owing to the manufacturers' 
probable distrust < f a newly-produced article, and 
partly owing to the influx of a cheaper and more 
serviceable article from the ether side of the 
Atlantic. 
There is still another view of the matter to be 
presented. Reference has been made to the over- 
abundant supply in America of the "raw material," 
so to speak. It naturally follows that the supply 
of leaf tobacco in b >nd in this country is largely in 
excess of the demand. Here aro somo interesting 
figures as to the stock of tobacco iu bond in the 
United Kingdom; — 
At tho end of 188-1, it was 72,072.838 lb. 
„ 1885, „ 92.391,997 lb. 
„ 1886, „ 116,6U4,398 lb. 
Startling in themselves, these figures become more 
striking when wo place in juxtaposition tho statistics 
of tobacco duty-paid entered for home consumption 
in the United Kingdom : 
In the year 1884, it was 50,772,513 lb; 
„ 1885, „ 51,323.060 lb. 
1886, ., 50,972,001 lb. 
In other words, we have started the year 1887 with 
a stock of tobacco more thau twice as large as a 
year's average consumption ! Something like the 
same proportion, we believe, holds good all over the 
world ; so that, obviously, there does not seem 
much "opening" for farmers or anybody else iu a 
new development of tobacco-growing. Iu view of 
the prevalent depression of agriculture, that is cer- 
tainly matter oT regret; but we believe it is better 
to make agriculturists acquainted with the actual 
situation than do delude them with hopes of success- 
fully prosecuting a new industry which seem utterly 
unrealizable. — Aberdeen Free Press- 
TEA PLANTING ON THE N1LGIRIS. 
We learn from Colonel Nassau Lee's work on 
" Ti a Cultivation in Iudia," that the first consignment 
of China seed sent to this country was that despatched 
by Mr. Gordon in 1830. He remarks that:— "Iu 
both bis mis-ions, Mr. Gordon sent round t > Calcutta 
several casks of seeds, some plants, and eight or ten 
Chinamen." From this seod 12,000 plants were 
reared, which were distributed as follows: — 
Madras Presidency 2,000 
Assam 20 000 
North-West ern Province ... 20,000 
The plants sent to Madras for distribution wero 
planted at Coorg, Mysore, the Neilgherry hills, and 
iu tho Horticultural Society's garden iu Madras. 
Six months alter they arrived (22 d Augu-t, 1836) 
the Chief Secretary reported to the Supreme liovorn- 
ment tint "the experiment had completely failed, 
aud with the exception of a few plants on the 
Neilgherry Hills, and in the Xuggir country, the 
rest bad withered away." Colouel Lt c< states further 
on: — "It must not be conclu led from this Hut n.> 
part of the Solith of India will grow tea, as from 
the unavoidable ignorance of those i utrusted with 
those early experiments, no other result* cou'd have 
been anticipated." It appear-, however, from Cl it - 
mints made further on in the work above quoted, 
th .1 the seedlings scut ut this time t > Assam and 
the North-West Province-, fared with little better 
success, aud that tin- lir-t Mice s-ful attempt at the 
introduction of China stud to India wis made by 
Mr. Robert Fortune some years later. 
As far ns these bills aro oonottrned tea planting 
as a speculation was firs I attimpt'd bv C'ptam Minn 
in 18o9, The seed from which the plant- were raised 
was of the China vuric'v, and. in Capt.uu Mann's 
case, obtained direct from China. Iu consideration 
