May i, 1889.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
'/33 
situation as well as the age of the plant. In some 
localities two or three sood crops are gathered in 
the year. The ripeness of the leaf is proved by its 
breaking when bent in the band, and the largest 
as well as most mature leaves are sought for as 
containing most of the alkaloid which renders coca 
leaves a marketable product. The leaves are usually 
dried in the sun and then allowed to undergo a slight 
sweating in heaps. When the drying is rapid the 
leaves have a beautifull bright green colour and are 
quite smooth. Such leaves fetch a high price 111 
South America, while the brown leaves that are more 
slowly dried are cheaper. But it is important to 
bear in mind that the estimate of value formed by 
the South American Indians may be based upon facts 
very different from those which would influence the 
manufacturing chemist. Thus Dr. Busby points out 
that the amount of cocaine probably forms no ele- 
ment of the Indian's estimate of the quality of coca 
any more thau the percentage of nicotine would 
establish the quality of tobacco. It is probable there- 
fore that sufficient attention has not yet been given 
to ascertaining the conditions of drying that would 
be most favourable to the production of a good raw 
material for the manufacturer of cocaine. This is 
a point that is eminently deserving of careful inquiry 
and the very irregular quality of the crude cocaine 
imported from South America proves that there is 
great need of better knowledge of this matter. Some 
of the best samples of this crude product will yield 
as much as 70 per cent, of true cocaine, but others 
yield very much less and some scarcely any. Since 
the manufacture of this crude product in South 
America the demand for coca leaves has fallen off 
so much that it is doubtful whether there is any 
inducement to cultivate coca in any of the tropical 
colonies for export to this country, but the question 
is one that can scarcely be decided in the present 
state of knowledge as to the means by which a good 
yield of cocaine of good quality is best to be 
ensured. — Pharmaceutical Journal- 
CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
" ALL ABOUT TOBACCO " NOTICED, AND COMMENTS ON 
TOBACCO- GROWING — MR. ARTHUR SINCLAIR'S SCHEME 
FOR PUSHING CEYLON TEA IN AUSTRALIA — THE FINE 
WEATHER. 
26th March 1889. 
In your new manual All About Tobacco, there 
is certainly a wide sweep s>f the net ; and the 
haul that has been landed for the benefit and 
profit of the tobacco planter of Ceylon is multi- 
farious. 
Since tobacco growiug has come mto such public 
favour as it has of late, the men who had any 
definite knowledge on culture and curing pos- 
sessed a very considerable advantage over the 
multitude. But then little could be made of them ; 
these local oracles were, as a rule, dumb oracles ; 
or if they did speak, the tale they told as to the 
expense and risk was most depressing. If there 
was another and a brighter side of the shield, its 
glitter was studiously withheld. 
Now that the new Manual is out, the table are 
completely turned ; and instead of suffering from a 
lack of knowledge the fear is that the fulness of in- 
formation which is now accessible to any man who 
likes to try his luck as a tobacco grower, is some- 
what likely to embarrass. To have " too much 
of a good thing," is, however, a kind of per- 
plexity which is easier borne and remedied 
than having too little ; and the various methods 
of culture and curing, which the reader of the 
new Manual will find fully explained in its 
pages, will doubtless be all tried by someone or 
another and their merits tested. Certainly there 
a choice and to spare. 
You can learn how tobacco is cured in Australia, 
in Burma, in Ceylon, in Connecticut, in Cuba, in 
England, in India, in Japan, in Java, in Maryland, 
in Persia, in Sumatra, and in Virginia ; and the 
various sources of knowledge which have been 
drawn from to enrich the pages of the manual 
are simply world-wide ; touching the Encyclopadia 
Britannica at the one extreme, and the local 
pres3 at the other. 
As an Appendix, there is a special paper written 
by a practical man for Ceylon planters. It is a 
pity that the writer has withheld his name, for it 
would have added much to the weight of what 
he has to say. He is second to none in his know- 
ledge of Ceylon, and as a cultivator he has had 
a wider and more varied experience than any other 
half-dozen planters rolled into one. 
In a perplexity the appendix can always be a 
court of appeal, and the planter who goes there 
can rest assured that its ruling will have the grit 
of experience in it, and be safe enough to follow. 
The " All About Tobacco " Manual is like a box 
of colours, which, in different hands, will produce 
different results. If you have brains to mix with 
them the outcome cannot but be satisfactory, 
but without that admixture it is quite possible 
to conceive the reverse. The mere wealth of sug- 
gestion may prove a stumbling-block and the choice 
of methods a snare. 
The compilers and publishers may congratulate 
themselves on having added another to the 
many useful Manuals they have issued from time 
to time and have placed within reach of the 
planters of Ceylon and elsewhere. 
The thirst for tobacco land is still keen, and 
the intending growers are very hopeful. One man, 
I know, has made up his mind to plant 100 acres 
at once. Whether he may modify this when he 
reads Dr. Trimen's opinion that tobacco-growing 
is essentially for the garden, remains to be seen. 
Certainly there is pluck and enterprise enough in 
Ceylon to upset any established rule. Before the 
year is out we are likely to know a good deal, 
more about tobacco than we do, and those who 
are coying with ii will have made or lost. Grow- 
ing it has all the excitement of a revolution. 
Events hurry : if success is yours the reward is 
great and grasped at once, but a reverse means 
"sudden death" pretty much, and no room left 
for repentance. 
It is a pity that 'Mr. Sinclair left the 
island without being more explicit about his 
scheme of pushing teas in Australia, for it is 
a good scheme, and would likely have got sub- 
stantial support from many of the tea planters. 
Mr. Sinclair knows well what he is about, and 
the three years he has spent in the Colonies of the 
South have put him quite abreast of things there. 
One fact he is convinced of is, that unless we 
push our own teas nobody else will. In Australia 
there is more profit dealing with the thriftless China; 
besides it has the field, and needs no introduction. 
Mr. Sinclair's scheme, as I understand it, is a 
modest one to begin with. A capital of R50,000 
in RIO shares, and the campaign which is to end in 
winning the continent of Australia is to be opened 
in the towns of Melbourne and Ballarat. From 
these centres it is hoped there will in time radiate 
to every township in the empire of the south a 
branch of the new Company of Ceylon Tea Growers 
and Sellers. Mr. Sinclair's idea was to start two 
places in Melbourne, and one in Ballarat, and 
employ one or two travellers in pushii g the tea 
outside. In time the capital would be increased, 
as well as the range of the business field. Mr. 
Sinclair is quite sanguine of success, and feels 
pretty confident that a fair dividend will bo de- 
