414 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1881, 
TOBACCO-GROWING IN THE EASTERN 
PROVINCE OP CEYLON. 
TO THE EDITOR OE THE " CEYLON TIMES.'' 
Sir, — Mr. A. Shaw, a Sumatra Planter, whose serv- 
ices we secured at great expense to cure our Tobacco, 
is now engaged on that work. It is necessarily a 
lengthy process anywhere, but we have found it more 
so here— our climate during the months that the cur- 
ing is going on, is very dry, and fermentation is 
therefore not so quick and strong, as it otherwise 
would be. That this is any disadvantage, except that 
it makes the curing a little more expensive, and that 
we lie out of our money the longer, we are not pre- 
pared to say. 
Last year we had more difficulties to contend with 
than we will ever have again. Still, we got a con- 
siderable acreage planted with tobicco, from which 
we have fecured a large quantity of leaf. Regard- 
ing its quality, I can only at this stage, quote from 
Mr. Shaw's report. "Much of the tobacco grown 
this season, which I am now engaged in curing, 
is of excellent quality." " The great point, therefore, 
has been gained in Trincomalee in proving so satis- 
factorily, that the soil and climate are suitable for 
producing tobacco of the wished- for quality." The 
tobacco is now being sorted and pressed into bales 
for export to London and Amsterdam — a few bales 
being sent elsewhere on the continent through Messrs. 
Freudenberg and Co. 
I see no reason why tobacco should not grow equally 
well at Tissa — if my ideas of its soil and climate are 
correct. It certainly is worth a trial, as there is no 
crop more paying. Your correspondent wished to know 
why we were plaating up last year's tobacco lands with 
coconuts. The natives of Trincomalee cultivate tobacco 
more extensively than anything else, year after year 
on the same land, using cattle manure alone ; in 
Sumatra, after the first crop, the land is manured 
with lime and guano. We desire to get as much land 
opened up here as we can, as the more we open 
the healther the place will be, and having plenty of 
land we can afford to plant up our first year's clear- 
ings with coconuts. Awaiting the result of the sale 
of our first tobacco crop before we plunge. Besides 
which coconuts are a very paying product here. And 
we are not over burdened with money, and I think 
we shall find it cheaper to fell and clear new land 
than to manure the old. The upkeep of the coco- 
nuts, is next to nothing, the planting we do simul- 
taneously with, and at the expense of, the tobacco. 
A. H. MACARTNEY. 
TOBACCO CROPS OF 1880 AND 1870. 
J. R. Dodge, special agent for the collection of 
statistics of agriculture, has issued from the Census 
Office a report showing the tobacco crops of the 
United States for the census years 1880 and 1870. 
The comparative statement in the report shows an 
apparent increase in the production of 80 per cent 
during the decade, the product in 1880 being placed 
at 473,107,573 pounds, and that of 1870 at 262,735,341 
pounds. This apparent increase, Mr. Dodge says, ex- 
aggerates the real advance in tobacco cultivation ; at 
tbe preceding census the crop was a small one, and 
the fear of taxation may have operated to prevent a 
full crop of tobacco in 1870, The crop reported in 
1 8S0 was one of medium production, not in excess of 
present requirements for home demand and export. 
Fifteen States produce now, as in 1870, more than 99 
per cent of the tobacco of the United States, although 
it is reported in twenty-two other States and six 
territories. Of these fifteen, only Missouri, Illinois, 
Indiana, and Massachusetts produced less than in 
1870. Kentucky occupies the first position, produc- 
ing 36 per cent of the total product of the country. 
Virginia then holds second place ; Pennsylvania has 
advanced from the twelfth to the third ; Wisconsin 
from the fifteenth to the tenth ; and North Carolina, 
Connecticut, and New York have each gained one 
poiut in the rank of tobacco States. Those th»t have 
retrograded in relative production are Massachusetts, 
Maryland, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 
and Tennessee. The average yield per acr: is shown 
to be 731 pounds, varying from 1,599 pounds in 
Massachusetts to 471 pounds in North Carolina. This 
variation in 'he rate of yield, the report states, is due 
in differing degrees to the use or neglect of fertilizers, 
the habit of growth of different varieties and vicissi- 
tudes of season. 
The following table shows the total product in 
pounds and yield per acre in 1880 in fifteen leading 
tobacco-growing States : — 
Sta'es. Total Yield. Average. 
Kentucky 
... 171,121,134 
756 
Virginia ... 
... 80,099.830 
553 
Pennsylvania 
... 36,957,772 
1,340 
Ohio 
... 34,725,405 
1.001 
Tennessee 
... 29,965,652 
707 
North Carolina... 
... 99,286,448 
471 
Maryland 
... 26,082,147 
683 
Connecticut 
... 14,044,652 
1,620 
Missouri ... 
... 11,994,077 
773 
Wisconsin 
... 10,878,463 
1,234 
Indiana ... 
... 8,872,842 
742 
New York 
... 6,553,351 
1,327 
Massachusetts ... 
... 5,369,436 
1,599 
Illinois 
... 3,396,700 
699 
West Virginia ... 
... 2,296,140 
564 
— Indian Agriculturist. 
THE STATE OF PERAK. 
(London and China Express, 26uh August 1881.) 
As evidence of what the result would be were the 
Malay States under British rule, there is an announce- 
ment in the Straits Settlements Gazette of the increase 
which it is thought desirable to make in the price 
of land in the district of Larut. The order referred 
to has of course been made at the instance of the 
Regent and Council, who direct the Resident to see 
that it is carried out. This goes without saying so 
far as its appearance in the order is concerned ; but 
one is very much inclined, on seeing Legislation of 
that kind, to imagine that the circumstances as just 
put, ought to be reversed. This, however, has nothing 
much to do with the alteration made, except so 
far as to show that the British Resident's presence, 
coupled with his advice, is bringing about a state of 
things very different to that which existed only a 
very few years back. As to the advisability of the 
change, that is a matter in which there is likely to 
be a good deal said, because it may with justice be 
contended that anything resembling a diminution in 
the easy terms offered by the Government must to 
sonoe extent stop the otherwise very rapid develop- 
ment of the country. This opening up in that part 
of Perak, south of the Kreean and Kuran rivers, must 
have been more successful than »as anticipated. But 
what the object can be in putting a higher price 
on the land is rather difficult to see, unless it is to 
divert enterprise more to Perak proper, in which 
very little has as yet been done beyond prospecting. 
On the other hand, there cannot be, comparatively 
speaking, very much laud left in Larut. Ever since 
the mines were opened there the influx of Chinese 
has been very large, while since the war the cultiva- 
tion of rice and sugar has increa-ed to a very great 
extent. The low-lying portion of the country in- 
cluded in the water-shed has always contributed to 
the r'ce products; the yield in some parts being so 
