THE TilOflCAL 
AGRICtJLtURISt [Jan. 1, 1903. 
tendent should at onoe coniniunirate with the 
Station Mahter, and f"iling a satisfactory reply, 
write to the Siiperiiitendent at Ragairia. 
7- It nmst be distinctly understood that 
Government does not hold itself responsible for 
the safe delivery of the coolies on the estate, but 
merely at the railway station nearest to their 
estate. Any Snporintendent who does not wish 
intimation of the arrival of coolies to be sent by 
telegraph should inform the Superintendent, 
Ragania (-amp, accoidingly. 
8. Coolies will be given bread and tea before 
they leave the camp. They will also be given lb. 
of bread a-piece to take with them. If any 
Superintendent thinks it necessary that his 
coolies sliould receive money for their maintenance 
between the railway station and the estate, an 
amount not exceeding 50 cents, a cooly, will be 
paid to each before he is put into the train. The 
Superinten' ent must write and state ihe amount to 
be given. If .such instruction^ aie given, the anu unb 
will always be paid to all coolies for- 'hit estate, 
the Superintenilent at Ragama cannot undertake 
to issue it to some coolie.^ and not to others, 
9. Payment of the expens-es incurred on ac- 
count of coolies must be made to the local 
Kaclicberi just iif the same way as hospital liiils. 
In coirespondence with reffrenee to accounts, 
Superintendents should always refer to the serial 
numbet in the account. 
Colonial Secretary's Office, Colombo, Dec. 4th, 1902, 
INDIAN TOBACCO. 
(To the Ediior of the London Times.) 
Sir, — As the writfr of the inieiesting special article 
in The Times of ibe 22Qd instant on ludiaii Tobacfo 
and its Possibilities makes reference to repoi ts writ en 
by me, perhaps you will kin-ilv allow me the privil ge 
of space for a W Td on the subject. 
jyiuch as I sympathit'e with the laudable desire of the 
wri'er for the development of an Indian industry, I 
venture to doubt whf iher his suggestion for the manu- 
faotare here of cigarettes from Indian Tobacco is well 
designed for the attainment of the end desired. My 
hint to the manufncturers of Indian cigars to enlarge 
their operations by the inclusion of cigarettes was 
based oa two oons. derations. In the first place, the 
recent increase in the importation of cigarettes— which 
totalled a valne of about 21 iakhs of rupees last year, 
Bay ±'140,000 — is mainly due to the adoption in Calcutta 
and some nrbau areas in Eastern and Northern India of 
a new habit in supression of the prac ice of smoking the 
Jiukka or water-pipe. Amongst especially the younger 
generation the old-fashioned "hubble-bubble" has 
been found clnmay and time wasting and been dis- 
carded, "s the churchwarden pipe has been discarded 
here. That the new habit will spre:.d extensively is 
inevitable; and my suggestion to the Indian cigar 
maunfactnrer was, in effect, that he should turn his 
attention to the meeting of a rapidly and cjntinuously 
increasing indigenous demand by the sopply of 
cigarettes of indigenous tobacco, even if it were 
necessary to roll them in imported paper. 
lu the second piace, I did not and do not believe 
that a foreign markist of any extent can be found 
for cigaiettes of Indian tobacco. The excellence of 
Indian tobacco has been eloquently described by many, 
as well as by Sir Richard Temple, whom the writer 
of the article quoted. Nevertheless, it must be taken as 
a fact that Indian tobacco possesses a peculiar d ivonr 
of its own which is not easy of appreciation except 
by those who have smoked nothing e ae for years. 
The distinctive merit of Indian cig^r:i m India is 
their cheapness. When a man can smoke freely at a 
cost of less than a penny a cigar he is not inclined — 
in India at any rate, where none of us are rolling in 
^eaUb^to iudalge in Havauae, eveo Dutch Havanas, 
at very much larger cost. But he Is also not much 
inclined to confees that: he smokes a ch<>ap oigar 
because be can ot afford the more expensive kinds, and 
he learns to make himself believe that he likes the 
indigenous cigar better. I do not wish in any way 
to decry the real merit of the Ii.dian cigar, well rolled 
from well-cured tobacco, but, in fact, (he best of them 
are covered with Java leaf ; and I have not yet met 
the man who, being offered at another's expense the 
choice between an Indian cigar and a good imported 
cig r, selected the former. There is something in the 
physical conditions of the soil and climate whii^h pie- 
cludes us from growing and making such tobacco as 
that o£ Cuba, Puertorico or the Philippines. Much 
money and energy have been expended fruitlessly 
during the last 30 or 40 years on the introduction of 
the best exotic seed, and on the improvement of pro- 
cesses of cultivation and manufacture. These latter 
are susceptible of further improvement ; but, as with 
many other products, it seems vain to hope for essen- 
tial change in the quality and distinctive aroma of 
Indian tobacco. The statistics of the export trade in 
Indian cigars confirm the view that there is but a res- 
tricied demand for them, and the demand does not 
seem to have any tendency to expand. It is true that 
la-it year there was a very large increase in the exports 
but that increase in the main represented cigars sent 
to the troops in the field in South Afric*. 
It seems to me that, if the demand for Indian O'gars 
rem^'ins smuU and non-progressive after many years 
ot effort to create a market, there is not much reason 
to expect a more active dem md for Indian cigarettes 
whether made here or in India,. Nor do I think it 
would be expedient to make the cigarettes here of 
Indian tobacco for consumption in India, where, as I 
have said, the consumers would be natives. The cost 
of the article would bo augmented by the charge for 
freight on the tobacco to England and b ck to India, 
by the wages of the more highly-paid Ub ur etpployed 
here, and by the import duty which would be charged 
on the entiy of the cigaiett s at the Indian Oustom- 
houses. All this additional cost would prevent such 
manufactures from competing smcessfuUy with cigar- 
ettes made in India, and peihaps even with the 
cigarettes made in the United States which are now 
so largely consumed by natives in India. But that 
there is a fairly wide field for the profitable employ- 
ment of c apital and skill in India in the improvement 
of native tobacco and in its manufacture into cigarettes 
admits of no reasonable doubt. 
I am afraid I have written at excessive length, but 
I am anxious that British capitalists, who already louk 
af^kmce at Indian enterprises should not be misled 
into the entertainment of projects which must be 
dismissed as soon as inquiry is made into ti e facts.— 
I am. Sir, yours obediently, ,T. E. O'CONOR. 
November 24. — London TimeSi Nov 28. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Trinidad Cacao I'lanters— profit by the 
American m.irket. 1 bus in the Port of- 
Spain report of 5th December, we read :— 
''Although it will be seen from above figures 
that Cacao ia coming in very ficeiy, iliere has 
been so active a demand from America that prices 
have kept up. and we make no change in late 
quotations ot %l2-75 to |13-50 as to quality." 
Aetificial Cinnamon Oil.— A Leipzig firm of 
essential oil dealers have taken up a patent for 
the preparation of artificial cinnamon oil, depen- 
ding on the mixing together of such of its 
constiiutents as have so far been detected. These 
bodies are cinuamie aldehyde, amyl-methyl ketone, 
nonyl aldehyde, cumic aldeiiyde, caryophyllene, 
linalol and its isobntyl ester, cymene, benZulde- 
hyde, phenyl-propyl aldehyde, furfurol, pinene, 
and eugenol methyl ether, — Apotheker Zcitung. 
1902, 760. 
