32^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. i, 1886. 



who farm in Kent, Essex, Worcestershire, Devonshire, 

 Suffolk, Norfolk. Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Scotland 

 and Ireland. 



Now, in July, at the Norwich Show, at the Ensilage 

 Society's stand, were exhibited a few good and forward 

 tobacco plants which had been grown in a garden 

 (some chemists have supposed the silo maybe sevice- 

 able in preserving the tobacco leaf, hence the special 

 interest taken in the subject by the society) ; but 

 it was quite a month later before field plants were 

 of the same size as those exhibited at Norwich. Let 

 me, then, speak of the first English field of tobacco 

 visited on Tuesday Sept. 7, being grown at HoUoway's 

 Farm, at the foot of Bromley Hill, in Kent, for 

 Messrs. Carter, of Holborn. Whtn I was there, one 

 of the friends we have always with us was also present 

 — the supervisor from Oravesend, in whose excise dis- 

 trict the ground was situated. He had watched the 

 crop from the beginning, and expressed his surprise 

 at the thriving state of the plants: they seemed 

 acclimatised, and had nothing exotic or sickly-looking 

 about them. I give this as a second opinion in suppoit 

 of my own. The soil of the field was a good but 

 variable sandy loam, with a little slope to the north. 

 The tobacco plants, of several varieties, were sheltered 

 by h< dgerows on two sid'ss, a yard-high partition of 

 mattiijg fiom other crops on the third side, and 

 open to the .sun on the south side. 'J he space covered 

 was three-quarters of an acre, each plant being from 

 the next a yard epart, and being earthed up on a 

 hill. There was decidedly a noticeable ditference in 

 the sorts, some being better than others, whilst across 

 the fit-Id itself the soil ran in belts — good, better, best 

 the last being almost a black loam. For these reasons 

 — difference of variety and difference of soil— the 

 general surface of the plants was rather uneven. 

 Many of the leaves measuied 2ff. 6in. across, and as 

 for the previous three weeks the plants had been 

 pinched or topped, taking awaj' the centre sced-beariug 

 stem, the height was fairly regular. Each plant had 

 sevep to ten leaves left. The seed had been originally 

 sown in a bed; next, on the 14th of Mfiy, pricked 

 out in boxes; pnd finally planted out in the field on 

 the 16th of June. The weather that followed for 

 about a month was often ungenial. The varieties 

 called Pennsylvania, Island Broad Leaf, Connecticut, 

 (>lassner, Hester, Virginia, Maryland Broad Leaf, 

 appeared most thriving; the Havannah and Kentucky- 

 were least so. All the plants were ofagocd "stocky' 

 character, and their pyramidal growth reduces to a 

 minimum the effect of wind, which was considered 

 as likely to be a great drawback to the cultivation. 

 It is expected the crop will be cut in about a week. 

 A''i.'>itors to the farm manifest by their attendance 

 general public interest in the expriment. Insect pests 

 were conspicuous by their absence. No coverings, glass 

 or otherwise, had been used at any time. The leaves 

 have that gummy stickiness which rightly pertains to 

 the leaf. The ground had received farmyard manure 

 in the proportion of twenty loads and 7cwt. of arti- 

 ficial dressing to the acre. In going to the nearest 

 railway station, Plaistow, I observtd a small field of 

 inferior maize. 



On Thursday, the 9th, I saw more maize and more 

 tobacco many miles from Kent — at the heme from, 

 Merton, Norfolk, where Lord AValsingham is making 

 his tobacco experiment, and continuing the already 

 successlid cultivation of maize. Here I do not want 

 any second opinion to support my own when I record 

 that the fifteen acres of maize which 1 there saw is 

 one of the grandest crops I have ever seen. I have 

 seen maize growing in parts of France, Germany, and 

 Spain, but have never seen a similar crop for hulk 

 and beauty as that now standing .'even feet high, in 

 plants a foot apart in rows and about four inches in 

 the drill line, each weighing some four pounds. Let 

 the students of Cirencester and Downtcn reckon up 

 the present weight per acre, and rcmemler for aliout 

 two weeks more the plant should grow rne to two 

 feet higher. Tru'y this was sn English jungle, and 

 I can onlj campare it to the seven foot high hemp 

 crops I have seen growing on the best lands of th 

 Loire valley. Of course the store for this harve e 



was the big excavated silo, of which a model was 

 seen at the Royal Show. The maize was drilled 8th 

 to 10th June, and followed an oat crop. Fifteen 

 loads of farm muck and 5 cwt. rape cake per acre 

 was the manure applied a few days before planting. 

 This exuberant vegetation was not in tassel, and, as 

 frosts injure it, the crop will be secured this month. 

 Grass frosts often come in September, but seldom 

 occur at .seven feet from the ground. 



I have purposely dwelt on the above particulars, 

 becau.se I think they indirectly infer that the last 

 six weeks have favoured broad-leaved plants, and, 

 therefore, tobacco. AVhite turnips, mangolds, and 

 swedes, especially, are looking remarkably well, and 

 possibly, therefore, this first season has lately suited 

 tobacco cultivation. Assuredly the plot of a rood on 

 the Merton farm was in a most thriving condition, 

 and more even, decidedly, than that seen on Tuesday. 

 One reason for this would be in the fewer varieties 

 grown. They are the Pennsylvanian, the Connecticut, 

 the Big Fredeiick, and some A'irginian. They form 

 seven rows across a large field of about 20 acies. These 

 rows are but 30 in. apart, and the plants are at the 

 same distance from each other. The rows run east 

 and west. The soil is a mixed, fairly good sandy loam, 

 with clay subsoil, and had twenty loads of farm muck 

 to the acre. The crop follows swedes. It is to be 

 remarked that the plants took well, and only about 

 a score of misses had to be made good. The plants, 

 I believe, were from Messrs Carter's stock, and were 

 set out on -June 16, then being .S in. to 5 in. high, with 

 four leaves. They were constantly hand hoed, and 

 now the surface soil is quite free from weeds. Since 

 they started in growth they have gone on without 

 check. The colour has always kept good. They are 

 now about 4 ft. high, and some leaves 3 ft. by 16 in., 

 with an average of nine leaves each. Here and there, 

 where the seed stem has been allowed to flower, the 

 Iraves of the plant are much smaller than in the plants 

 which have been carefully "topped." The stem cir- 

 cumference is 5J in. They are entirely free from insect 

 attacks, and to the eye form a beautiful crop in the 

 evenness of colour and thriving appearance. It is 

 expected to cut them in about a fortnight, and take 

 them to dry in a sheep house admirably suited for 

 the purpose, as moveable shutters extend along the 

 sides, and allow the circulation of air in a direct current. 



The morning of Friday, the lOth inst.. was very 

 unsettled in Norfolk, and much rain fell after midday. 

 Leaving Thetford for Brighthngsea, Essex, to view 

 Mr. John Bateman's experiment, I may note that 

 weather could hardly be more adverse — a circumstance 

 that confirmed my day's arrangements to see his tobacco 

 growing, although under equally wind and flooding' 

 rain. Although I had but one object for this journey, 

 to inspect the tobacco crops, there is no good reason 

 I .should not record, by the way, that a farmer at 

 Thetford showed me how he utilised some of the 

 headlands of his fields — by planting them with prickly 

 comfrey, a plant much like tobacco ; also where there 

 was a lorg wall to one field, close to which usually 

 nettles and other weeds abound, he had planted rhubarb, 

 which, well manured, smothered all undergrowth, and 

 produced a crop which, for several weeks in spring, 

 brought a return of 12s. per week — a single row more 

 thau paying for the rent of the acre of land, which 

 it only bounded on one side. The walk in the rain 

 from Brighthngsea station to the ''Hall" farm showed 

 me Mr. Bateman's neighbours were following him in 

 growing maize, and the crops looked generally well, 

 being in tassell and about seven feet high. There are 

 some 35 acres of maize on Mr. Bateman's farm, of 

 whih 30 acres follow the crop of maize I saw last 

 year ou Oct- 1, when it was being cut and carried to 

 the silo. This season's crop is heavier probably 30 

 tons to the acre, and was manured with sprats 5d. 

 per bushel and some SO bushels per acre. 



Although planted at the same date as that of Lord 

 Walsingham, early in Jun4| the Essex maize was quite 

 ten days in advance of the Norfolk crop. My visit 

 being without notice, it was by chance, that I found 

 a party of a dozen gentleman already "prospecting" 

 the tobacco crop ! Amongst them were scientists and 



