128 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1899. 
Mr. Nevitt.: I know nothing about the labour in Sumatra, but in the 
States we employ white labour. There at least 75 per cent. of the men engaged 
in the cultivation of tobacco are white. One man in Florida last year, who 
employs white labour only, received £240 per acre from his tobacco. He got 
three crops, and sold it at 6s. per lb. 
Mr. Deyman: There is a gentleman in the room who tells me that he finds 
it impossible to grow tobacco here owing to mildew. 
Mr. Neviri: In the States we have no trouble with blue mould, but there 
has been a good deal of experimenting done in the colonies with the same disease. 
Blue mould usually attacks the beds, but if the modern practice of making 
the beds is employed, the danger of blue mould is reduced to a minimum. 
That is, the ground in the beds should be burned until it is well cooked, as it 
were, after which a small frame forming a box is placed round it and covered 
with cheesecloth, thus preventing the beds from being exposed to the night 
air or fogs. Where the beds are liable to be attacked by blue mould, the disease 
can be destroyed by the application of Bordeaux mixture in the form of a spray. 
Mr. C. Arrnow (Brisbane): The tobacco industry is certainly a promising 
one, but I think Mr. Mackay was somewhat wrong in blaming the manufac- 
turers for killing it some years ago, so far as the North is concerned. If you 
cast your minds back you will know that at one time there was very little 
tobacco produced in the colony, hence arrangements had been made all over the 
world to supply Queensland with tobacco. Then some having been produced 
and having fetched a good price, everybody rushed into the industry. If the 
could have produced a tobacco similar to that imported or similar to that which 
suited the tastes of the consumer, the American tobacco would have been driven 
from the market, and the industry would have been a great success. But you 
all know that in a new country the flayourand aroma of the leaf is not likely to 
be similar to that to which the people have been used. Consequently they 
refused to take the colonial tobacco, and although owing to the duty it could be 
sold at amuch lower price, it found no purchasers. The idea that the manufac- 
turers ruined the industry is quite erroneous. As a matter of fact they could 
not place on the market what they made. In time, the tobacco being cheaper, 
people began to use it. Men with experience in its manufacture came from 
America and catered to the tastes of the people, so that now, I believe, colonial 
tobacco is used to a large extent, and will be used to a ereater extent still in 
Queensland. As an instance of the necessity of attending to the tastes and 
requirements of the market, I may mention the case of a gentleman who had a 
large orchard of Seville oranges a few years ago. He could not get a purchaser 
for any of the fruit, so he cut the trees down. Novw there it a good demand for 
Seville oranges. In that case the manufacturers did not know the industry, and 
they did not want the oranges. So with the Cairns cigar tobacco. Seven or 
eight years ago cigars were not manufactured in the colony, but now they are 
made here, and I do not think there is any possibility of there being a glut in 
the local market for this class of leaf. ; ‘ 
Mr. P. McLean: There are two matters in connection with this industry 
that militated against the success of colonial tobacco. ‘The earlier growers not 
only grew the tobacco, but manufactured it themselves also. As this latter 
business was one of which they had no knowledge whatever, when this home- 
made article was placed upon the market one trial was quite sufficient for 
consumers. The second matter was the want of knowledge on the part of our 
growers in the preparation of the leaf for the market. The Agricultural Depart- 
ment took a good deal of interest in this subject, and some years ago several 
samples of leaf were procured from erowers and forwarded to England for expert 
opinion. The answer generally was that the tobacco had not been properly 
prepared for export. At that time there was a tobacco expert, as now, in con- 
nection with the Department, and the question of proper preparation of the leaf 
was pressed upon the people, with the result that aga manutacturers have since 
then been able to use up a considerable quantity of local leaf by mixing it with the 
American. In fact, at the present many are beginning to consider the Queens- 
land leaf is spoiled by the admixture of the American. 
