The British West Indies have only recently appreciated the importance of tobacco cultivation. Many portions of Jamaica seem as well fitted for it as the _vuelta abajo_ of Cuba, and already Jamaica tobacco in the Hamburg market ranks next to the best Havana, and is considered superior to such Cuban growths as St. Jago, Manzanillo, Yara, &c. Tobacco cultivation may now be said to have a place in the industries of Jamaica, a fact mainly due to Cuban refugees. The most extensive plantations in the island are Potosi in St. Thomas Parish, and Morgan’s Valley in Clarendon. Much of the produce goes to the German market, the remainder being made into cigars for local consumption, and said to be quite equal to some of the best Cuban brands. Some experiments made with Bhilsa tobacco have given great satisfaction, on account of the robust habit and immense yield of the plant. It is especially adapted for very wet districts, and its cultivation will be widely extended, if justified by its market value. Tobacco is, and for very many years has been, grown by the peasantry in small patches; from this, they manufacture a smoke-dried leaf, which, twisted together in rope form, sells readily in the home market. The acreage occupied by the crop was 297 in 1874–5, 442 in 1875–6, 331 in 1876–7, and 380 in 1877–8. The slopes of valleys in many parts of Dominica, too, are eminently suited to this crop, particularly the district between Roseau and Grand Bay. The experiment of tobacco culture in New Providence on a large scale has not proved satisfactory, owing to the difficulties encountered in curing and preparing the leaf; the cigars made are fit only for local consumption. The exports from San Domingo in 1884 were 10,513,940 lb., value 669,500 dollars. According to a recent Consular Report, it would seem that “Cuban tobacco has lost its prestige through forcing and artificial manures, and has to sustain sharp competition from abroad where it formerly commanded the market; and probably some years must elapse before the soil can recover from the excessive and indiscriminate use of artificial fertilizers. “A few years ago the leaf harvested in the Vuelta Abajo was not sufficient to meet the large demand, and in order to increase the yield, growers made use of guanos of all sorts, and with such bad results that they find it now difficult to place on reasonable terms more than half, and sometimes less, of their crops, at very low prices; in few localities only the soil has not been spoilt by spurious manures, and the leaf grown there commands very high prices and is warmly competed for by local manufacturers and buyers for the United States. “Notwithstanding the last crop has been of a better quality than heretofore, growers were compelled to abandon the tobacco cultivation for a certain time, and devote the ground to other purposes.