1 Avr, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 311 
r Here the chief thing is quality ; form, shape, texture, colour, &c., are only of 
{ Mferior importance. Also the burning power may be indifferent, because a 
yar is almost always made from fillers of different kinds of tobaceo—i.e., 
| tded. All different kinds of tobacco possess also different burning qualities, 
| Millers which burn less freely, when blended with fillers which burn much 
| ;° are easily consumed with the rest. The great reputation which certain 
| gids of cigars possess almost wholly depends upon the skill of the manu- 
| gttter in blending. This is what the Cigarette World tells us about 
ie ‘Yery important subject of tobacco manufacture :—“The art of blending 
fp utoubted! one of the most important and one of the most difficult 
| 1 “(uire in the tobacco trade. In no industry is the aid of skilful blending so 
bolutely indispensable. With the exception of a few well-known loose 
*ecos, all tobaccos are more or less blended. It is, in fact, precisely this very 
= & of blending that gives to various marketable products those peculiar 
| Hlities for which they are characteristic. While no secret is made of the fact 
= | aa the methods that are adopted are necessarily secret to every factory that 
| (fPloys them.” The amount of fillers for 1,000 cigars of ordinary shape is 
| tout 12 qb. - 
bra 
CIGARETTE TOBACCO. 
| The countries which furnish the best cigarette tobaccos are Turkey, Greece, 
| a Asiatic-Turkey. Some of these tobaccos obtain prices as high as those of 
| Be est Havana, 16s. per lb. ‘The difference in quality of the many kinds of 
| gautette tobacco the Turkish Empire produces, is more a result of difference 
ST ere, S0U, as the mode of cultivation and the preparing of the leaf are nearly 
AW o “ywhere alike. 
} toh But the United States, notably the State of North Carolina, also produce a 
| ¢8¢co of which a very good kind of cigarette can be made. The best tobacco 
| vat is purpose is grown on a poor, very sandy soil, of light colour and small 
} alte, olding capacity ; as soonas too much farmyard manure or ‘fertilisers are 
pe to the soil, the colour of the leaf becomes darker and the quality less good, 
«good kind of cigarette tobacco can also be grown ona poorsoil which contains 
“nsiderable part of white clay, if the land is well drained and the tobacco 
a "non ridges. As a rule it can be said the soil intended for growing cigarette 
he, “©o Should be the opposite in texture and structure to that suited for producing 
| lth Coarse tobacco. ‘This class of soil will produce tobaeco which contains but 
. 
ie Meotine, and the comparative absence of nicotine in cigarette tobacco is 
1 At, qual ; good kinds contain only from 1 to 13 per cent. of this narcotic alkaloid. 
by h humus in the soil is not necessary for cigarette tobacco. The crops given 
‘es ‘uch soils are, of course, very small. J remember in Sumatra, on similar 
yp) Poor white clayish lands, that the acre produced was only from 300 to 400 
any The tobacco was not good for wrappers on account of its small elasticity 
it julness of colour, but the leaf would have suited very well for cigarettes, 
Deri ving a naturally light-yellowish colour and good flavour if grown during a 
“0d of drought. 
<i | 4g, Pobaceo grown on such a soil for cigarettes should be planted much closer 
“a ign Wrapper tobacco on a rich soil ; it should also be topped much lower, and 
. oe more than ten leaves should be left to the plant. This tobacco should 
| ost De wilted nor fire-cured, but everything should be done to conduct the 
| logy Process as slowly as possible, care being taken that the fine light colour 
uit ot become spoiled by bad management. The fermentation is conducted 
eal] ° differently from that of other tobaccos; it might be more appropriate to 
Ms process ‘aging.’ The bundles are bulked as dry as possible, and the 
8s lasts for at least twelve months. During this period there will be a light, 
is 
f ead unnoticeable fermentation going onin the bulk. Unnecessary to say, 
je by means of thermometers the temperature in the bulk must constantly 
0’ | dy ttched ; and, if the tobacco heats in the slightest, the bulk must be broken 
4 fo, 2nd built up again. Some even advocate that to make fine cigarettes the 
“eco should be three or four years old. 
SESS EET SRST 
SSE 
