93 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDEXER. 
[ February 2,1888. 
the soil of a shallow and light description. The summer months last 
year were remarkably deficient in rainfall, and this had the effect of 
diminishing the average weight per plant. Then again, in August and 
September there was a considerable rainfall, accompanied by cold 
nights, just a t the time when warm weather was needed ; while on the 
I'St of Septem ber there was a gale of unusual severity, which destroyed 
not only Tobaceo but other growing crops. These facts, and the pro¬ 
bability of early frosts, show that it is not safe to leave the Tobacco 
plants upon the land after the l.uth of September. In our judgment 
neither the season of 1886 nor that of 1887 was as favourable for 
Tobacco cultivation as we could desire ; but the experimerds which wo 
carried out simultaneously with Lord Walsingham, Sir Edward Birk- 
beck, M.P., and ilr. Faunce de Laune, have, nevertheless, been so suc¬ 
cessful that next season they are likely to take place upon a consider¬ 
ably extended scale.” 
THE BEST VARIEriES. 
“ What varieties of Tobacco do you think most suited to the English 
soil 2 ” 
“ Well, the experiments this year were made with no fewer than sixty- 
four varieties which we obtained from every possible Tobacco-growing 
country—from the United States, from China and Japan, from Turkey, 
and from many other place.=. As a result, we are of opinion that the 
kinds best adapted to our English summer, and calculated to give the 
largest return, are the Big Frederick, the Kentucky, the Connecticut, 
and a ‘ Havana ’ Tobacco which reaches us from America. The average 
vreight (green) of the Big Frederick was about 1 lb. 11 ozs. per plant ; of 
the Kentucky, 1 lb. 9 ozs. ; of the Connecticut, 1 lb. 10 ozs. ; and of the 
‘ Havana,’ 1 lb. 7 ozs. Other varieties ranged from 8 ozs. to 1 lb. 5 ozs. 
per plant. Allowing the full acre to have been occupied with the 
varieties of which we took special notice of weights, the number of 
plants would be 4810, and the gross weight 2 tons 14 cwt., or in round 
figures 6000 lbs. As the plants shrink from 60 to 65 per cent, in the 
process of drying and stripping from the main stem, there .should remain 
about 1500 lbs. of Tobacco as the produce of 4840 plants. This quantity, 
calculated upon a sale price of about Od. per lb., would show a return of 
upwards of .€40 per acre.” 
AN ESTIMATED BALANCE SHEET. 
“ We have,” continued Messrs. Carter & Co.’s manager, prepared a 
number of balance sheets, which we think fairly show the figures as 
they would affect the farmer. Let us take that relating to the Big 
Frederick Tobacco, which is an early kind, a strong grower, and one 
specially suited to our English climate. On the credit side of the 
account we put the sum of £50 from the sale of 3000 lbs. of Tobacco at 
4d. per lb., which is the lowest price which Tobacco of average quality 
is likely to fetch. Then come our expenses. We put the rent of an 
acre of land, with buildings and incidental charges, at £3 ; we allow 
for ploughing and harrowing, for farmyard manure and guano, for the 
plants, for pruning, topping, and other manual labour ; for cutting and 
carting, curing and stripping, sorting and packing. We figure out all 
these charges in detail, upon the basis of our own experiments, and we 
find the total expenditure of the farmer upon this acre of land would be 
£24 17s. 8d., giving him a profit of £25 2s. 4d. This, be it remembered, 
is for a crop which can be grown on the same land year after year.” 
FURTHER EXPERIENCE NEEDED. 
“ Have you any reason for discouragement 2” asked our represent¬ 
ative. 
“ No, we can scarcely say that,” was the reply. “ Our great difficulty 
consists in want of experience. All those who have experimented with 
Tobacco have, of course, obtained the services of skilled Americans to 
assist in the preparation of this English-grown Tobacco, but there are 
certain circumstances, climatic and otherwise, which make a different 
course of proceeding to that followed in the States necessary in this 
country. No doubt, however, we shall gat over these troubles, particu¬ 
larly if the present experiments are continued on a larger scale. They 
would, of course, be greatly developed if the Government could be 
induced to place as few impediments as possible in the way of the 
cultivation. Our personal experience is that the Inland Revenue 
authorities are most desirous of helping us as far as is consistent with 
the regulations. But they are bound down by red tape, and to such an 
extent that it is almost a wonder the growers and the Government 
representatives get along so comfortably as they do. If we produced 
ten times as much Tobacco as we now do it would not interfere with the 
Revenue, and therefore it is a little difficult to see why such a fuss is 
made about it. One of the things we need is a simple method of deal¬ 
ing with the refuse. The stalk of the Tobacco plant, for example, has 
no commercial value yet we cannot burn it till the Excise officers come 
along and give approval to the operation.” 
A CENTRAL BONDED WAREHOUSE. 
“ Do you not think that, under some well-defined scheme, the 
Customs difficulty could be very much modified 2” 
“ Yes ; and on that point I have made a suggestion which is likely 
to be adopted. It is that there should be established—say in London— 
a bonded warehouse, to which the Tobacco from various farms might 
be sent, and where the whole of the stages, from the curing to the 
putting of the article in the market ready for the smoker, might be gone 
through. Or, if it is more desirable, there might be a number of bonded 
warehouses in the Tobacco-growing districts, where the plants could be 
s mt by the farmers, and where the curing could take place. In this 
way the labour of the Excise officials would be diminished, while the 
farmer would be sure that his produce would be properly treated. It 
does not matter very much to the dairy farmer whether he sends away 
milk, or milk in the shape of cheese. In the same way, if the farmer 
can only protect himself, it will not matter whether the Tobacco leaves 
his premises in a cured state, or just as it is taken from the field. I 
ought to have said before that in the most favourable localities in the 
United States the crop is not always a success. Therefore it is reason¬ 
able to suppose that there is always a possibility of an increased value 
being obtained for the English crop, by reason of the occasional short 
deliveries from abroad. Though we may not have the high degree of 
summer heat or persistent sunshine peculiar to some countries where 
Tobacco is largely grown, yet we are happily more or less free from the 
tornadoes and hailstorms that frequently devastate the Tobacco crops in 
America and elsewffiere.” 
A CHANCE FOR A COMPANY. 
“ How do you think the farmer could best be helped 2” 
“ The best way would be for the Tobacco-growers to unite with 
capitalists in forming a syndicate, the members of which work together 
to the promotion of a common end. Not only might further experi¬ 
ments be carried out under their auspices, but when the industry has 
developed it would offer important advantages, not only as to the curing 
of the crop and the preparation of it for market, but for generally 
upholding the right of Tobacco cultivators to get a fair remuneration 
for their outlay. If a syndicate were established in the way I sug¬ 
gest, and operated upon each year’s crop, with the aid of specialists 
trained for the purpose, there is no question that some excellent 
English Tobacco would be produced, which would run the imported 
article very hard. I do not assert that the farmers of Kent and Nor¬ 
folk are going to turn out Tobacco equal to the finest Havana leaves, 
but they will undoubtedly produce a valuable article which will largely 
enter into consumption.” 
THE TOBACCO DUTIES. 
“ What is the object of your conference 2” 
“ We shall probably arrange for a Bill to be introduced into Piirlia- 
ment, with a view to making the cultivation of Tobacco more easy. 
The measure will most likely aim at removing some of the existing 
regulations, which are frivolous and vexatious, and at obtaining for a 
certain number of years a rebate, say of 6d. or Is. a pound, upon the duty 
paid on English-grown Tobacco. This slight advantage to the home 
grower ought to put him on his legs. Parliament, we think, will be 
inclined to look the more favourably on the proposal because it is in 
Ireland that the cultivation of Tobacco will probably be on a more 
extensive scale than anywhere else in the British islands. Experiments 
have recently been made in Dublin county with the result that the 
samples of Tobacco produced were highly spoken of by leading manu¬ 
facturers in Dublin. The soil seems well suited for the growth of the 
plant. It looks, therefore, as if Tobacco cultivation is going to be a good 
thing for the Irish people as well as for the English farmer. So far, of 
course, there has been no money made by those who have carried out 
the experimenl.s, nor is it likely that there will be until a syndicate takes 
the matter in hand and ilevelopes a promising new industry for the 
British agriculturist. So far as we are concerned—and we are sure we 
can say the same of others who have made experiments simultaneously 
with ourselves—it has been a labour of love. We shall only be too glad 
if, by any effort of ours, we have helped to draw attention to a source of 
wealth which has for many years lain dormant, chiefly for fiscal reasons, 
but which is certainly capable of being revived. Briefly, the question is 
this. We conaume annually some 50,000,000 lbs. of Tobacco. Are we 
to grow some of it ourselves, as we unquestionably can do, or shall we 
continue to buy it entirely from abroad 2” 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUAllB, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82'40"N.: Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
-L » 5f 
Hyfrrome- 
a . 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
a 
1888. 
p r: ^ dj 
P'S 
ter. 
73 a 
perature. 
Temperature 
4 
January. 
u ^ 
Is- 
In 
On 
nfi 3 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5o 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
depT 
depr. 
depr. 
del?. 
detr. 
depr. 
depr. 
Id. 
Sunday.22 
29.894 
444 
43 9 
w. 
88.4 
4H.3 
43 4 
48.8 
39.2 
Monday. l'3 
3i>.3n 
40.9 
40.1 
N. 
89 3 
5(K6 
38.6 
78 3 
29.2 
Tuesday .... 24 
30.4.'I4 
39.3 
37.1 
w. 
889 
44.9 
87.2 
5.5.7 
81.4 
_ 
Wednesday.. 25 
S".‘04 
41.2 
41.2 
s.w. 
39.2 
461 
89.1 
69.4 
86.4 
_ 
Thursday.... 2i» 
29 8-55 
45 4 
4 .2 
w. 
39.5 
46.9 
40.9 
64.5 
35.»i 
_ 
Friday .27 
So.‘i49 
34 4 
336 
N.W. 
89 1 
43.6 
81.8 
75.2 
26.3 
.06 > 
Saturday .... 28 
29.975 
30 4 
28.5 
N. 
38.2 
47 3 
28.7 
71.8 
24.7 
— 
31.160 
39.4 
87.9 
^ 38.9 
468 
37.1 
66 2 
31.6 
.'65 
BEMARKS. 
22nd.—Diill and damp all day. 
23ro.—A lovelv j-prlngday. 
2 «ili.—Fair morning; briptit afternoon and evening. 
Dull and damp early ; fine and generally bright day; gale at night. 
26ih.—Gale all day, abating iu the evening; niorulug dull aud damp; afternoon 
generally bright; clear evening and night. 
27th.—Fine, bright morning: cloudy afternoon, with showers of rain and sleet; bright 
evening with one or two Kiiialls t f rain, ball, snow, and sleet. 
28ih.—Fine and bright throughout, lunar eclipse, well seen except at' inteivals between 
and midnight, when fleecy clouds drove acros.«». 
Temperature warmer than last week and aboye the average. Rainfall still deficient.— 
0. J. St MONS. 
