Octobf.r i, t888.] THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 225 
We generally scud tobacco to market in hog.' heads, 
mid sometimes in boxes. A hogshead four feet in 
length, and three feet in diameter, is the medium size. 
One thout-and pounds is considered a full hogshead ; 
but ouo of the abovo dimonsions can hold one thou- 
sand five hundred pounds, by hard pressing; but this 
blnckous the tobacco, and injures the sale of it. Pack- 
ing in the hogshead is done by first laying a course or 
layer of bundles straight across the bottom, keeping 
the buts even and close together, then fill up on each 
side of the centre course, placing the buts against the 
Btavcs ; then the buts of the hands that lie against the 
hogshead should be covered up wilh two or three 
others, pressed closely down. The next centre course 
should be laid across the first, and done in the same 
maDner as before, and so on, crossing e ach course iu 
succession, until the hogshead is two-thirds full ; when 
the press should hu applied till the tobacco is pressed 
down to within a foot-aud-a-half of the bottom of the 
hogshead. 
The press should remain on an hsur or more, in 
order that the tobacco may settle together ; then the 
press should be raised, and the packing resumed as 
beforo, till the tobacco is with in a foot-and-a-half of 
the top ; thou the press should again be applied till the 
tobacco is pressed half way down the hogshead ; the 
same proportion should be observed until the hogshead 
is full. Then put the head in, and it is ready for 
market. — " (Jeylou Advertiser." 
» 
TOBACCO GROWING. 
It is now beyond doubt that tobacco growing in 
England cannot bo made to pay. Tobacco can be made 
to grow, and where money is lavished upon it to grow 
in abundance, but the crop is not worth much at the 
best, and the average specimens are unsaleable. This 
is the verdict of the judges on whom it devolved to 
pronounce upon the relative merits of certain crops in 
the competition for a prize of fifty guineas offered to 
the producer of the best tobacco leaf. The prize has 
been awarded, but tho judges thought fit to make an 
addendum to their award. Not one of the four samples, 
they say, eligible for the prize, is in any respect valu- 
able for trade purposes. "With regard to the pros- 
pects of tobacco growiug in England," the judges add, 
"we share the opinion that, even under tho most 
favourable conditions possible, such a crop cannot bo 
made to pay, aud that in most seafODS it must hu an 
absolute failure aud heavy loss." 80 then this source 
of revenue is closed against English agriculturists, to- 
gether with other sources in which their hope was for 
some time fixed. With tho decline in the price of the 
staplo of English farming — wheat — pasturage was 
thought to be a better paying alternative, but the large 
importation of frozen meat from abroad speedily dis- 
solved this hope, and various other remedies for the 
depression, such as fruit farming, were in their turn 
recommended and found wanting The idea of jam 
nuking, which found its origin iu the fertile brain 
of Mr. Gladstone, proved no better specific. The 
resources of jam, eggs, butter, meat, and grain have 
been inadequate to arrest the decline iu fanning, and 
now t >bacco growing is shown tobothe most delusive 
hope of all. But the report of tho judges will contain 
110 great disappointment, for few ever believed that 
the soil or the climate of Kngland rondored it possible 
tooultivate the tobacco plant to any good purpose. 
Even the most daring enthusiasts could hardly entertain 
tl" nlea I bat l.y tobaccos produced at home could rival 
m tUv iur and perfume the produce of Virginia or of 
Kfypt. But now even the most moderate expectations 
luivii I.e. n shown to he exrravagcnt. The lilt\ -guinea 
pris tobacco is flavourless and insipid in comparison to 
Ordinarily good samples of the imported article. Pity 
'lis true, t ut it 1 ■* ii» well to know exactly how we <tan d 
Wu ilnt 1 1 hiivu to go back to old-fashioned farming and 
make the niont out of it. This in i \net ly win rein tho 
bm r> ol the future rest* — in making the most out of 
wheal growing, stock producing, etc. ; and it is not un- 
hktdy that, if sohools tor agriculture wcra more general, 
»nd the boience of farming ai will at III praotice 
better understood, we shall yet be able to hold our 
own with the competition from abroul. — Chemical Tradt 
Journal. 
♦ 
CHINA TEA TRADE. 
There is no need to dwell on the section in Mr. 
Hughes' report devoted to the tea trade, for there 
is nothing new to be said on the subject of tho tea 
trade between China and England. He makes a good 
point of the fact that the brick tea shipped in 
such large quantities to Siberia only pays an export 
duty of Tls. 0.60 per picul, and is exempt from 
transit duty, while the coarse leaf and dust, of which 
it is made, p*ys Tls. 2 50 per picul, if shipped to 
England. Ho concludes : — '• The trade has never 
been in our hands, aud we have no reason to grudge 
our Russian friends their success, but attention may 
fairly be drawn to its flourishing coudition in support 
of the contention of our merchants that the export 
duty on tea should be largely diminished or alto- 
gether abolished." As we have before remarked, the 
Chinese government may reply that their inteiest in 
the tea trade is in the duty they extract from it, 
and that it is unreasonable to ask them to abolish 
that duty; though they may be persuaded to re ax 
the duty, when the tariff is revised, as the local 
officials this year have in certain places relaxed the 
inland taxation on the h&l.—IVurth-Uhina Herald, 
Aug. 24th. 
MEDICAL HINTS FOR THE HILLS. 
[Dr. Bishop, a couple of years ago, published a 
curious picture of planter and cooly life in Assam, 
more amusing to outsiders than to the planters 
depicted. Now he seems to have issued a graver 
book, a notice of which we reproduce from the 
Indian Planters' Gazette. — Ed.] 
Doctor Bishop's " Medical Hints for the Hills"* 
is a little unpretentious book that one can easily 
carry in the pocket. It deals with topics which, so 
far as we are aware, have not hitherto obtained 
that attention whioh their importance demands. 
How often docs it happen that invalids going to 
the hills are little the better (or the change ; and 
in some instances sink under the new conditions 
of climatic surroundings. There is no doubt that 
many valuable lives are lost owing to insuflicient 
care on the arrival in the new station. " I have 
often noticed," says Doctor Bishop, *' after arrival 
in a hill station from the plains, that visitors, more 
especially those who come on account of their 
health, suffer from various indispositions ; and it 
is my aim in these notes to try and point out a 
few of the most common incidental to the change 
of climate. Eroni my own experience I am con- 
fident it more care were taken, and more pru- 
dence exorcised, . in a great measure a good 
deal of unnecessary sickness could be avoided. 
We must bear in mind the additional strain there 
is thrown on the constitution, which is not alto- 
gether compensated for by a lull trip. After a 
prolonged residence in the plains, the lar b e organs 
of the body are generally debilitated and unable to 
bear the extra work which is thrown on them ; 
therefore it behoves all new arrivals to use some 
discretion, and to gradually adopt the system to tho 
change. 
"The heart, the liver, the lungs, the 6tomach and 
kidneys all "have their work increased." 
These organs and their diseases, as they appear in 
tho hills, are dealt with in a vory able and exhaus- 
tive manner. Fever, hill climates ; sleeplessness, 
• " Medical Hints for the HillsT" By Doctor S. 0. 
Bidhop. Printed by N.L. Royat Lochnagar, Dwjeelihg, 
in the Scotch Mission Orphanage Press, aud Miser . 
Newman 6: Co., Calcutta. 
