40 
THF  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
[July  i,  1892. 
THE  PRODUCTION  OF  L ATARI  A TOBACCO. 
The  Journal  de  la  Chambre  de  Commerce  de  Con- 
stantinople says  that  the  district  of  Latakia,  which 
gives  its  name  to  the  famous  tobacco,  is  situated  in 
the  north  of  Syria,  and  occupies  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Laodicea,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tripoli ; 
but  the  port,  formerly  so  renowned,  has  been  blocked 
up  with  sand,  so  that  only  small,  lightly-laden  vessels 
can  now  enter.  Behind  the  town  extends  a vast 
plain  to  the  south  beyond  Jibleh,  as  far  as  the  range 
of  hills  inhabited  lay  the  Nocairis  or  Ansarieh. 
This  tribe  is  specially  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of 
Latakia  tobacco,  and  obtain  considerable  profit  from 
it.  The  Nahr-el-Kebir,  which  runs  through  the 
plain,  affords  the  necessary  irrigation.  The  following 
is  the  method  adopted  in  the  cultivation  of  the  to- 
bacco : — Towards  the  end  of  December  the  ground 
is  broken  up  and  the  sowing  takes  place  in  January, 
ten  or  twelve  seeds  being  placed  in  holes  from  four 
to  five  feet  in  depth.  As  soon  as  the  sprouts  appear 
above  the  ground  they  are  covered  with  mats  which 
are  taken  off  when  the  sun  shines.  Women  and 
children  are  employed  to  frighten  away  the  birds 
and  see  that  they  commit  no  injury  to  the  sprouts. 
In  February  the  plants  are  transplanted  to  another 
field,  and  earth  is  plentifully  piled  up  around  them, 
while  in  March  they  are  kept  well  watered,  and  in 
April  the  harvest  commences.  The  first  leaves  are 
placed  to  dry  in  the  sun  or  by  the  fire  ; these  con- 
stitute what  is  called  the  new  tobacco,  and  is  parti- 
cularly appreciated  by  the  fellahs  themselves  as  it 
is  considered  stronger  than  that  obtained  subsequent- 
ly. From  April  until  the  month  of  August  the 
plants  are  watered  according  to  the  state  of  the 
weather,  the  yellow  leaves  are  lopped  off,  and  the 
buds  are  removed  in  order  to  strengthen  the  general 
growth  of  the  plants.  The  full  harvest  takes  place 
in  the  commencement  of  August,  and,  towards  the 
south,  in  September.  The  entire  plant  is  cut,  the 
leaves  removed,  tied  up  in  bundles,  and  placed  in 
the  sun  to  dry,  care  being  taken  to  frequently  turn 
them  over.  In  November,  the  tobacco  is  sufficiently 
dry ; it  is  placed  in  horse-hair  sacks,  and  put  upon 
the  market.  The  merchants,  however,  subject  the 
leaves  to  a new  drying,  and  then  sort  them  accord- 
ing to  colour,  perfume,  and  general  quality.  The 
different  varieties  placed  upon  the  markets  are  the 
Abou-Bicha  or  Djebeli , which  is  the  finest  quality, 
and  is  only  obtained  in  the  high  plantations  of  the  No- 
cairis, and  which  is  much  in  favour  in  Europe  as  well  as 
in  Egypt.  The  Djidar  is  a little  rougher  in  quality 
but  burns  well,  and  is  much  appreciated  by  great 
smokers.  The  Schick  el  Bent  very  closely  resembles 
the  Djebeli,  with  which  it  is  frequently  mixed  by  the 
retail  dealers.  The  plain  of  Koura,  which  extends 
from  the  foot  of  Lebanon  to  Nahr-el-Kelb  between 
Tripoli  and  the  mountains,  also  furnishes  excellent 
Syrian  tobacco,  the  best  products  being  those  of  the 
villages  of  Sebail  and  Serai.  The  district  of  Gabail, 
and  particularly  Kesrasan,  furnishes  the  finest  vari- 
ety, and  also  the  most  expensive.  This  tobacco 
leaves  a white  ash,  while  Oriental  tobaccos  as  a rule 
leave  a black  or  dark  grey  ash.  The  southern  dis- 
tricts of  Lebanon,  and  particularly  the  region  of 
Tripoli,  only  supplies  very  ordinary  varieties  of  to- 
bacco. In  the  districts  of  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  a 
little  tobacco  is  also  grown,  but  of  an  inferior 
quality. — Journal  of  the  Societi / of  Arts. 
- 1 
Tea  in  Japan. — The  Japan  Weekly  Mail  of  14th 
May  says:— Tea  is  bought  as  fast  as  it  comes  to 
market,  but  the  trade  cannot  be  said  to  be  in  full 
swing  even  at  this  late  date.  Less  than  1,000  piculs 
of  leaf  was  the  total  business  last  week,  but  the 
qualities  taken  were  all  “fine”  to  “choicest.” 
This  week,  however,  much  more  has  been  done,  the 
total  settlements  on  the  12th  inst.  having  amounted 
to  15,527  piculs.  Prioes  from  the  opening  to  the 
present  time  have  been  fully  $2  per  picul  higher 
than  last  year,  but  the  first  week’s  continuous  warm 
and  dry  weather  will  produce  such  heavy  arrivals  of 
leaf  on  this  market  as  to  make  a considerable  drop 
in  prices  a oertainty. 
SEEDS  AND  PLANT  DISEASES. 
Repokt  of  Consulting  Entomologist. 
During  the  late  winter  and  spring  months  much 
attention  has  been  directed  in  the  Western  fruit  grow- 
ing counties  to  ascertaining  what  reliable  measures 
could  be  adopted  in  order  to  destroy  the  hordes  of 
caterpillars  which  now  appear  almost  as  a regular, 
yearly  recurring,  cause  of  serious  loss  to  fruit  growers. 
It  has  become  more  and  more  plain  each  year  that 
although  sticky  banding  is  so  far  of  sendee,  that  in 
many  cases  the  foliage  of  orchard-trees  would  have 
been  totally  destroyed  if  the  banding  had  not  been 
done,  yet  still  that  it  is  only  a partial  protection 
against  wingless  months  gaining  access  to  the  trees 
for  egg-laying,  and  is  no  protection  at  all  from  the 
m»ny  kinds  of  attack  orginated  by  winged  infesta- 
tions : also  it  is  expensive,  needs  renewing  at  inter- 
vals, and,  without  special  arrangements  to  insure 
safety  to  bark,  is  detrimental  to  the  health  of  the 
trees. 
In  my  own  suggestions  as  to  applications  I limited 
myself  to  advising  trials  of  "Paris  green"  spray  as 
with  this  application  we  had  clear  information  from 
the  U.  S.  A.  and  Canadian  Government  reports  of 
the  exact  proportions  in  which  it  was  to  be  used 
and  of  every  detail  concerned  and  also  of  its  success 
and  warnings  as  to  requisite  caution  in  use,  it  being 
a poison ; for  those  who  did  not  care  to  try  it  (by 
advice  of  the  Dominion  entomologist)  I suggested  the 
use  of  washes  of  soft  soap  and  mineral  oil. 
The  experiment  Committee  has  wisely  made  a 
trial  and  recorded  results  of  many  applications,  and 
of  these  after  the  committee  meeting  at  Toddingion 
on  the  1st  of  the  present  month,  the  committee  de 
cided  that  they  would  recommend  the  following  for 
spraying  on  infested  trees : — Paris  green  paste,  in 
the  proportion  of  one  ounce  to  eight  or  ten  gallons 
of  water  for  plums,  and  one  ounce  to  twenty  gallons 
of  water  for  apples ; London  fluid  (that  is,  a mixture 
of  a preparation  sold  as  “London  purple ”)  one  part 
to  twrenty  parts.  Both  of  these  the  .committee  re-, 
commended  as  effective  in  destroying  the  caterpillar 
while  they  did  no  meterial  harm  to  the  foliage. 
I am  favoured  by  reports  of  the  meeting  (with 
full  details)  being  placed  in  my  hands  both  by  Mr. 
Masters,  and  from  Toddington,  but  as  these  impor- 
tant points  are  too  long  to  be  entered  on  here,  I 
just  mention  that  I will  (as  matter  of  course)  give 
all  information  in  my  power  to  any  applicant,  or 
so  long  as  they  last,  forward  copies  of  the  separate 
impression  of  the  orchard  fruit  paper  from  my  early 
report.  In  this  I give  exact  proportion  of  Paris 
green  found  serviceable  in  American  horticulture, 
which  I am  thankful  to  find  has  now  been  confirmed 
as  a safe  and  serviceable  preparation  by  the  above 
well-skilled  horticultural  authorities. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  term  Paris  green 
“ paste  ” is  used.  In  order  to  avoid  risk  to  health 
from  careless  workers  inhaling  the  powder,  one  of 
our  chief  supply  firms  arranged  to  send  out  small 
orders  damped,  which  saves  all  danger  from  inhala- 
tion in  mixing.  Besides  the  above  experiments  which 
are  considered  to  be  progressing  satisfactorily,  I 
have  had  information  of  the  successful  use  of  the 
Paris  green,  or  arsenite  of  copper,  from  private 
correspondents,  and  am  in  much  communication  on 
the  subject,  and  also  it  is  being  a new  application 
here  and  a poison.  I invariably  warn  that  it  is  not 
to  be  left  about,  nor  the  powder  inhaled. 
At  present  the  main  point  under  consideration's,  I 
believe,  date  of  application.  Mr.  Masters  added  to 
the  observations  on  the  part  of  the  committee  that 
they  considered  the  syringing  should  be  done  when 
the  leaf  bud  was  first  developed,  before  the  blossoming 
period,  and  then  again  after  the  blossoms  had  dis- 
appeared and  the  fruit  was  forming.  So  far  the 
work  is  considered  to  be  progressing  satisfactorily, 
and  if,  as  there  appears  to  me  reason  to  hope,  our 
operations  succeed  as  well  as  they  have  long  done 
in  America,  the  hard  and  skilled  w'ork  of  the  Eves- 
ham Committee  will  be  a benefit  throughout  the 
country.  Eleanok  A.  Okmekod, 
— In  dian  Agrio ultu rist. 
