Abstract

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is a native of Mexico and Brazil (Watt 1908). It gained popularity all over the world by its gradual introduction and acclimatisation. The area under the crop in the Madras Presidency is 268,815 acres, of which the Guntur Dis- trict contributes a third. The crop being an industrial one, is put to varied uses and i broadly classified into (a) cigar wrapper tobaccoes (b) cigar filler tobaccoes (c) pipe tobaccoes and (d) plug tobaccoes. Tobacco in the cured state is chiefly exported to the United States of America and is imported in the form of finished products like cigare- ttes; decoctions; active principles; medicines etc. Madras and Burma contribute their bulk quota in the export of manufactured cigars to Maldives: Straits: Ceylon and Arabia (Watt 1908.) There are three distinct classes of persons connected with the tobacco trade viz., (1) cultivators (2) curers and (3) dealers. The present article is mainly confined to the work of the second class of people though the same embraces in a way the work done by the last- mentioned class of persons.

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