oxide of iron the ashes of the same quantity of the Hingalee, or
best Bengal tobacco, only gave 1.50 grains, or 0.32 per cent.; and it
appears to exist in the first two in a state of peroxide, and in the
last as a protoxide of iron; rendering it highly probable that the
flavor of the tobacco to the smoker depends on the state and quantity
of the iron it contains! Green copperas water, which is a solution of
sulphate of iron, is often used by the American and English
tobacconists and planters, to colour and flavor their tobacco; and
this would be decomposed by the potass of the tobacco, and sulphate of
potass and carbonate of iron is formed. Carbonate of iron is of an
ochre-yellow color. Mr. Piddington says he took care to ascertain that
this process had not been performed with the tobacco used for this
experiment; and adds that Bengal cheroot makers do not know of this
method. Mr. Laidley, of Gonitea, dissents from the idea suggested by
Mr. Piddington that ferruginous matter in the soil is essential to the
successful growth of tobacco. He observes that if we attend only to
the iron contained, why every plant will be found to require a
ferruginous soil; but tobacco contains a notable quantity of nitrate
of potass and muriate of ammonia (the latter a most rare ingredient in
plants), and these two salts are infinitely more likely to affect the
flavor of the leaf than a small portion of oxide of iron, an inert
body. Now as neither of these can be supplied by the atmosphere, we
must search for them in the soil, and accordingly he imagined that a
compost similar to the saltpetre beds which Napoleon employed so
extensively in France, would be a good manure for tobacco lands;
namely, calcareous matter, such as old mortar, dung, and the ashes of
weeds or wood. He was aware that good tobacco might be grown in
Beerbhoom, having raised some himself several years ago from American
seed. The plants grew most vigorously, and he further observed, in
confirmation of his opinion about the proper manure, that in other
districts in which he had resided the natives always grew the tobacco
(each for his own use) upon the heap of rubbish at his door,
consisting of ashes, cow-dung, and offal of all kinds. While the soil
of the Gangetic diluvium almost always contains carbonate of lime, the
Beerbhoom soil does not, as far at least as Mr. Laidley had examined
it.

The following is the mode of culture pursued about the city of
Coimbetore. Betwee