10 
stems, strung together on packthread and then hung across 
the drying house : sufficient room for the air to circulate among 
them must be allowed. When dry the leaves should, in damp 
weather, be placed on hurdles in heaps and left for a week or 
t W o. During this time the leaves should be frequently examined 
and turned with a view of preventing undue fermentation. 
When fermentation is complete the leaves should be sorted 
according to their different qualities, redried, tied in bundles 
and pressed. 
11. It is necessary in the case of those intended for export that 
the bundles should be compressed into a solid mass and the air 
excluded from them. 
12. In Jamaica, Cuban, Chinese and Native labour is employed 
in the cultivation of the plant, but Cuban and Chinese labour 
alone is employed in the manufacture of the leaf into cigars. 
13. The cultivation of two acres of tobacco should cost about 
V (W £30 and the average produce should be worth £80, leaving a net 
J ,*1 profit of £50. 
^ The Director of Ivew Gardens informed me four years ago that 
with “proper methods of cultivation and preparation Tobacco 
might become a very important article of export from the British 
West Indies.” 
If any one should doubt the correctness of my rules, let me 
say, though it may appear egotistical, that Sir Joseph Hooker 
observed that “Governor Robinson’s excellent Despatch” (from 
which they are taken) “really leaves little room for further 
“ remark. It is of course desirable to obtain seed of good quality, 
“ though this is of less moment than careful attention to cultiva- 
“ tion and preparation. Governor Robinson’s statement that the 
“ finest Tobacco in the world may be spoiled by improper or 
“ inefficient curing cannot be too much emphasized.” Looking 
to the fact that Spanish colonists in two distinct parts of the 
world. East and West, grow Tobacco with pre-eminent success, 
it certainly is difficult to understand why more should not have 
been done with it by British enterprise. 
