The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1884. TOBACCO-GROWING.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 61, 8 February 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1884. TOBACCO-GROWING.

The soil and climate of Poverty Bay being adapted for the cultivation of tobacco, we take another opportunity of recurring to the subject, in the hope that many of the settlers in this district will see fit to utilise some portion of their lands for growing the plant. The Napier Telegraph has culled a portion of an interesting article on the subject from a Southern paper, and we cannot do better than follow so good an example. The article states that “ no plant is more fastidious than tobacco as to locality and soil It will grow almost anywhere, but the places where it will come to perfection for the purpose of commerce are few and far between In the North Island, however, there are said to be more of such places than in any other equal area, perhaps, in the known world. The first object

of the promoters of the industry is to find out those places, and to study their special advantages in relation to the different varieties of tobacco, It is not generally known, but is, nevertheless, a fact, that the richest land does not necessarily produce the best tobacco. In California the tobacco industry was almost a complete failure for many years, for want of knowledge of this fact. Nothing but a long and costly experience taught the Californian growers the valuable lesson that soil which might be called poor for other branches of agriculture is often best suited to produce the tobacco of commerce. It also took them some years to realise that, while tobacco of a certain sort would do well at a particular spot, tobacco of another sort would be an entire failure there. This is a wellknown, though not clearly-explained circumstance in the old tobaccogrowing States. Thus we find that Kentucky produces dark, coarse tobacco; Virginia the best smoking sorts; North Carolina the bright yellow, highly - flavored varieties ; Lousiana the special brand called ‘ Perique and so on. Within each of these States, again, there are minor localities and minor varieties ; and in many instances an exceedingly limited area produces a particular sort which is valuable from its very rarity. The same thing will undoubtedly be found to be the case in New Zealand ; and it is not only quite possible, but extremely probable, that spots may be found in this country which will produce brands of tobacco possessing special peculiarities of immense commercial value. These are the opinions not merely of enthusiastic projectors or of sanguine experimentalists, but of experienced men of business, well acquainted with the whole process of growing and preparing tobacco. Wo have been assured by some of these that the tobacco grown in parts of the North Island possesses very remarkable qualities, and is of a kind for which there is an almost inexhaustible demand in the tradeThey say, in fact, that not only might we grow all the tobacco we require for our own consumption, but in time we might institute a new and profitable export, not less important than wool or grain. The progress of the tobacco industry in the United States has been rapid, steady, and altogether wonderful. The annual yield of tobacco in that country is about 500,000,0001b5., obtained from 650,000 acres of land. Some idea of the profitableness of the industry may be gathered from the statement that the average yield per acre is between 6001bs. and 700 lbs. Every bit of the plant is turned to some account. The best leaves of the right sort are used for cigar wrappers, and the inferior parte for the inside of cigars. Other sorts are made into plugs or cakes, or cut up and prepared for smoking. Thestem and leaf stalksof all sorts are dried at a great heat, and ground into snuff. The scraps and refuse are worked up iu a variety of ways for cheap cigars or cigarettes. We learn that of late quality has become the great desideratum, that most of the manufacturers are now using better qualities of tobacco thou they did a few years ago, and that the grades of tobacco that were bought then could not find a purchaser now. In the manufacture of cigars especially better materials are used than formerly, and dealers find that the extra cost is more than compensated by the demand, There are in the United States no fewer than 1,060 tobacco factories and 16,721 cigar factories, the productions of which arc distributed by 449,612 dealers of one sort or another. The magnitude of the trade can be imagined when we say that one tobacco factory in New Jersey employs 4,000 hands, The value of the tobacco annually exported is between four and five millions sterling, and the revenue derived from tobacco under all heads is over eight millions sterling. The trade has more than doubled itself during the last forty years, and there is no doubt that, but for the protective policy of the country, its expansion would have been infinitely greater.” It will thus be seen that all soils are not adapted for successfully growing tobacco ; but the gratifying statement is made that in the North Island there are more places where the plant will come to perfection for the purposes of commerce than in any other equal area in the known world. Surely, now a tobacco manufactory has been started in Auckland, sufficient inducement is offered the settlers of this district for the cultivation of the plant, and, if deemed advisable, atrial can be made on a small scale. The expense of preparing a few acres of land for the purpose would not be much, and we fail to see why the settlers of Poverty Bay should not make tobaccogrowing a specialty—especially as a ready market for the article is to be found in Auckland. We trust that land-cultivators in our district will give this matter much attention, and that, ere many years have passed, the export of tobacco leaf from Gisborne will become of great importance.