Wov. h 1886.J 



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tHETROmCAL AGRICULTURIST* 



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manufacturers of cigars ; also a gentleman now living 

 in England, but formerly a tobacco planter and buyer 

 in Virginia. The plot selected by Mr. Bateman for 

 his experiment was a swampy piece of ground drain- 

 ing into a small lake, and with a moist, black soil 

 which had been enriched with ashpit manure. Here 

 were a dozen varieties of tobacco growiog, and the 

 plant ^tood up thick and well against the wind and 

 rain. The seed had been planted in a cucumber frame 

 and raised to the height of three to four inches by 

 June 12. when they were successfully transplanted. 

 They are now fairly ripe, and have remained free 

 from insect pests. The English experiments are too 

 new to have lured over the American worm, which, 

 however, said the Virginian planter, would be sure 

 to find out the tobacco plant, wherever it might be 

 raised. The whole crop at Brightlingsea was in flower 

 on the iOth, not having been budded or topped ; so 

 whilst it is tall and thriving the leaves are not equal 

 in size to those I had seen in Kent and Norfoik. 

 Our tobacco p'anter, philosopher, and friend from 

 Virginia expressed his opinion that this E-sex crop 

 was as good as he had usually seen in the Ignited 

 States and Mexico, and he could confidently say the 

 plants properly cured should make excellent cigars or 

 smoking tobacco. He recommended the cutting should 

 take place this week, and that the curing might be 

 undertaken in a silo compartment, which wouM form 

 temporarily a tobacco shed. The plants having a 

 slit made in the base of their stem, will be speared 

 throughout by oak laths, or threaded by cords, and 

 then be suspended across the silo at some elevation 

 from the basement. On the floor dry wood fires 

 (beechwood preferred, as emitting but little odour) 

 will be kept going for some eighty to ninety hours, 

 to produce the necessary heat and dryness. Next the 

 leaves should be stripped from the stems, and be 

 allowed an amount of fermentation that only an ex- 

 pert could determine. The manufacture into cigars 

 Mr. Phillips, of Colchester, would undertake. 



The above remarks infer that English tobacco growing 

 successfully is so far accepted as a general probability, 

 failure not being apprehended ; reckoning of course, 

 always, that the drying and curing process of good 

 product can be accomplished by Englishmen in the 

 English climate. 



On Thursday last I had expected to see the to- 

 bacco crop at Lynsted, in Kent, grown by Mr. Faunce 

 de Lanne, but a letter from that gentleman defers 

 my visit until next Monday, because on that day ••' he 

 will be taking out one cured lot of tobacco, and be 

 putting in a fresh lot of tobacco. Of the two kinds 

 cured, one lot has come out in the finest yellow leaf, 

 which has been inspected by one of the chief tobacco 

 manufacturers in the country, who pronounces it to 

 be of the best quality. Besides, on Monday I shall 

 be filling my silos with buckwheat and hopbine." 

 This extract carries the experiments a step further — 

 the growing has been successful, and the drying also 

 successful. 



Whilst deferring further remarks until more visits 

 have been made, it is desirable to state, as several 

 growers are now wishing to cut their tobacco plants, 

 that, whilst tobacco grown in hot climates is usually 

 saved in the gross, by cutting the plant and drying 

 it off, each separate plant suspended complete, in 

 rows with others, yet in slower and more irregular 

 climates, such as the British islands, it is best to 

 select and pick off the leaves as they mature, and 

 these may be threaded together on string, and be 

 dried in succession. 



First, should any grower be pleased with any special 

 Variety, and desire to save the selected seed, care 

 must be taken that no frost has touched it, and 

 impaired its vitality. AA^hen the seed pods blackeu, 

 the seed is ripe, and the heads are cut off below the 

 forks of the plant, and are hung to dry. The seed 

 Is rubbed out by hand and winnowed, and if it 

 crackles when thrown on*to a hot stove, it is good. 

 An ounce contains about 100,000 seeds; but as the 

 percentage of vitality is low, half an ounce is usually 

 saved to produce the plant required for an acre. 



put probably most growers will seek to g*ve only 



the leaves, and these are ripe when they assame a 

 marbled and yellowish green colour — they increase in 

 gummiuess, and the tips bend downwards. The leaves 

 should only be harvested after the dew is off the plant, 

 and not upon a rainy day. "When the leaves are 

 gathered singly, the bottom leaves are the first taken. 

 They should be taken to shelter — even a tree will 

 serve the purpose ; but commonly the grower will 

 have some suitable shel, where the whole plant, or 

 the struug leaves, may be suspended to dry. They 

 must not be hung so close as to press each other. 

 Usually a dry day is suflicieut to " wilt " the plants, 

 so as to allow them to be handled without breaking 

 or tearing the leaves. They may then be dried, and 

 below is given an illustration how tobacco plants are 

 suspended for drying : 



The drying shed should be ventilated so as to allow 

 of regulation of the currents of air. Everyday the 

 leaves must be carefully examined, as they dry un- 

 equally. Experts recommend that artificial heat should 

 be supplied, and this should be conducted into the 

 drj'ing shed without the fire or the products of com- 

 bustion being admitted ; but, as stated above, many 

 Americans light wood fires on the floor, and cure 

 tobacco much as bacon is cured by smoke. Confirm- 

 ation of this mode — referred to at Mr. Bateman's 

 meeting — ha.-; been given to me by a former large 

 grower of tobacco in America, who has had 100 acres 

 in cultivation. One coloured workman was reckoned 

 sufticient to look after four acres of tobacco. The 

 arrangement of a tobacco-drying shed is much like 

 that of a fish curer, the object in both being to 

 keep the plants or fish close and yet apart. "WTieu 

 the tobacco plants or leaves have become dried, and 

 yet are pliable, the process of stripping commences, 

 which is done in a moist atmosphere, and then the 

 selected leaves are graded and made into hands, i.e., 

 ten to twenty leaves are tied together, and each day 

 these "hands" of tobacco are " bulked" together in 

 heaps 4 ft. to 8 ft. squai-e (of course this refers to 

 cultivation on a large scale, and experimenters . can 

 only resonably follow the methods), with all the 

 stalks outside, in order to ferment. The amount of 

 fermentation can be controlled, as in the making of 

 ensilage, and the process lasts an irregular time. The 

 bulk is often pulled to pieces and rearranged through 

 days and weeks. Some tobacco is tit for smoking a 

 few weeks after drying, whilst it is usually some 

 months before it become-^ an article of commerce. 



The above details, simplified and reduced as much 

 as possible, may appear to claim great skill and 

 trouble, but actual practice makes them easy and 

 quite within the scope of ordinary farmers who may 

 grow tobacco. — Invicta. — Field. 



A Present of Coffee Leaf Disease fuom Oash- 

 MEBE. — We have just received a packet from Cash- 

 mere containing four or five coifee leaves more covered 

 with leaf disease than any we have ever ob- 

 served. The leaves are enclosed in a piece of paper, 

 on which the following is written : — " Coals to New- 

 castle, or leaf disease (of sorts) from Cashmere." 

 The present serves to show us that we arc not the 

 only ones troubled with Hemdeia rastalria;, though 

 the number in this colony who now take much 

 thought concerning this fell pest is getting fewer 

 every day. — Local "Times," 



At the Bbitish Pharjiaceutical Coxfehenck were 

 read two papers on quinological subjects. Mr. Hooper's 

 paper dealt with experiments in Madras, He showed 

 that renewal by shaving greatly increased the quinine 

 value of the bark, and that manuring has a some 

 what similar effect in a less degree. The paper also 

 contained details of analyses of barks at different 

 ages, and concluded with a reference to the effect 

 of mould on bark, which is almost nil. Mr. Howard's 

 p:iper was one of considerable interest, and con- 

 tained the results of many analyses of various cin- 

 chona barks, all of which, contrasted with a review of 

 what was being done in cultivation of the bark, lee) 

 him to predict that profitable cultivation can only 

 result from the propagation of the highest quinine« 

 yielding trees,— C/it/nist aui Dru^'jist, 



