m 



f ME fmpiCAL AQRiCtjLTUmuT, [Nov. t, Me. 



3. Every planb before being trausplauted must liave 

 six leaves on it, and tbose leaves should be as large 

 as a half-dollar piece before it is removed from the 

 nursery. 



4. When transplanted, a distance of 18 inches 

 should be allowed between each plant. 



5. Tobacco plants are sometimes attacked by insects 

 in November. This, however, depends upon the state 

 of the weather. The plants should be carefully 

 watched, and the insects, if any, picked off. 



6. As soon as suckers present themselves they should 

 be ripped off ; they will be found between the stem 

 and the leaves. By this operation the vigour of the 

 jjlant, which should not be allowed to ilower, is in- 

 creased, and the condition of the leaf improved. 



7. Tobacco flourishes best on level ground, and red 

 or reddish soil is preferable to any other. If the 

 61)ot where it is cultivated is at all hilly, the north- 

 ern portion of the ground will be best, as in that 

 position the plants will suffer less than in any other 

 from the rays of the sun. 



S. Vegetable manure will be found an admirable 

 fertiliser, and it will be necessary to dress the ground 

 every two years, as the plant exhausts the soil very 

 rapidly. 



9. Care should be taken, iii sowing the seed for 

 transjjlanting, not to sow too thickly. 



OuEiNG. — 10. The curing of Tobacco — and everything 

 depends upon the curing — is a very delicate operation, 

 and one requiring great care and attention. The most 

 common practice, when the leaves are fit for gather- 

 ing, is to cut the stems of the plants close to the 

 ground and lay them on beds to dry until the even- 

 ing. They should then be carried to a drying-house, 

 which should be thoroughlj' ventilated, laid in heaps 

 to " sweat," covered with mats to keep in the heat, 

 and left for several nights to soften and bleach. 

 The leaves — and no more than twelve should be 

 allowed to grow on each stem — should when supple 

 be stripped from their stems, strung together on 

 packthread and then hung across the drying- house : 

 Bufhcienfc room for the air to circulate among them 

 must be allowed. "When dry the leaves should, in 

 damp weather, be placed on hurdles in heaps and 

 left for a week or two. During this time the leaves 

 should be frequently examined and turned with a 

 view of preventing undue fermentation. When fer- 

 mentation is complete the leaves should be sorted 

 according to their different qualities, redried, tied in 

 bundles and pressed. 



11. It is necessary in the case of those intended 

 for export that the bundles .should be compressed 

 into a solid mass and the .air excluded from them. 



12. In Jamaica, Cuban, Chinese and native labour 

 is employed in the cultivation of the plant, but 

 Cuban ami Chinese labour alone is employed in the 

 manufacture of the leaf into cigars. 



1^. The cultivation of two acres of Tobacco should 

 cost about £30 and the average produce should be 

 worth £80, leaving a nett profit of £50. 



The Director of Kew Gardens informed mc for 

 years ago that with " proper methods of cultivation 

 and preparation Tobacco might become a very im- 

 portant article of export from the British West 

 Indies.'' 



If any one should doubt the correctness of my 

 i'ules let me say, though it may appear egotistical, 

 that Sir Joseph Hooker observed that "Governor 

 Bobinson's excellent despatch " (from which they are 

 taken) "really leaves little room for further remark. 

 It is of course desirable to obtain seed of good quality, 

 though this is of less moment than careful attention 

 to cultivation and preparation. Governor Kobinson's 

 statement that the finest Tobacco in the world may 

 be spoiled by improper or ineflicient curing cannot 

 be too much emphasised," Looking to the fact that 

 Spanish colonists in two distinct parts of the world, 

 east and west, grow Tobacco with pre-eminent success, 

 it certainly is difficult to understand why more should 

 not have been done with it by British enterprise.— 

 Gardeneri' Chronicle. 



THE ENGLISH TOBACCO CROP. 



Of tobacco literature available for immediate assist- 

 ance I would name as the best Spon's Encyclopaedia 

 of Oommercial Products ; the section therein is masterly 

 and exhaustive, referring especially to cultiv*tion and 

 curing in the U.S. and India. Then a shilling pam- 

 phlet, "Why and How Tobacco should be Grown," 

 published by Nichols and Sons, Parliament-street, con- 

 tains much concise information, brought together by 

 J\Ir. A. A. Erskine from numerous sources. The third 

 edition of the pamphlet, "Cultivation of Tobacco in 

 England," issued by Messrs Carter and Co., 237, 

 High Holborn, contains, beside much general matter, 

 a; valuable and practical paper from au American 

 publication lent by Lord Harris, wherein it is noted 

 "five curings are spoilt by proceeding too fast to one 

 failure from going too slow." This American author- 

 ity recommends as a dry, curing heat that shall expel 

 the sap from the leaves, stems, and stalks of the 

 plants, and catch the colour — yellow, (next one to 

 nature's colour, green) — and to fix this yellow colour 

 indelibly, the employment of stone or brick fines, 

 with furnace and pipes, and with fuel of old wood. 

 As such flues do not exist in England, the nearest 

 substitute should be attempted. In a medium sized 

 tobacco plant is about one pound of water, and this has 

 to be expelled in from eighty to one hundred hours. Thus : 



About thirty hours at a temperature of 85° to 90" ; 

 About four hours at a temperature of 100 ° 

 About four hours, advancing 2h° to 110° ; 

 About four to eight hours, advancing regularly, 120° ; 

 About six to eight hours maintained at 120 ® ; 



until the leaf appears to be cured and all sap ex- 

 pelled ; then advance 5 ° every hour up to 170 ® to 

 thoroughly cure the stalks and stems in those cases 

 where the whole plant is hung. Of course, where 

 only the leaves have to be cured, the treatment is 

 completed earlier. AVhen cured properly most of the 

 leaf will be of a mahogany colour, the remainder 

 of a bright dapple to a cherry red. 



To me the whole of the inclosures (plots surromided 

 by a single line of hops at right angles) appeared 

 to have been overfed with manure — the result of delay 

 in permission for the experiment to be made. In 

 another season due preparation of the ground by 

 working and manuring should be made in time for 

 the soil to get duly mixed with the fertilisers em- 

 ployed. Farmyard manures, wood ashes, and sheep 

 droppings had been applied to the ground from which 

 hops had been grubbed up. Mr. de Laune raised some 

 of his plants from seed placed in a hotbed during 

 May, and set out from June 10 to June 26. Other 

 plots were from seedling jjlauts reared by Messrs. 

 Carter of Holborn. The distance of the plants apart 

 is about a yard— as recommended by American 

 practice— but the luxuriance of the English plants 

 demands much more space for the large-leaved varie- 

 ties, so as to allow room between the rows, to cul- 

 tivate and clean the crop from rapidly-growing suckers, 

 &c. During the past week this work could not pos- 

 sibly be accomplished without a greater evil follow- 

 ing, through injury to the finely-grown and ripening 

 leaves overlapping each other, 



In reply to a schedule of queetions, Mr.de Launfr 

 has favoured me with the following particulars ; — _ 



1. Names of varieties grown i Keutuky, Connecticut, 

 Pennsylvania Island Broad Leaf, Hester, Virginia &c, 



2. Prepared bed for plants with foot of farmyard 

 manure and a few inches of loam on the top. Did 

 not burn over the soil before planting out. Covered 

 the seed plants with sheets on cold nights. 



3. Set out plants (June 10 to 2(3) in hills made by 

 hand. 



4. Percentage of first planting which rooted and 

 grew off. A'ery few died from natural causes, and 

 none from insects or worms. 



5. The soil is loamy (formerly a bop garden) ;la8bcrop 

 tnrnips, fed off by sheep, 



6. Ilanures : Wood ashes, bats' guano, farmyard muck, 

 &c. Hqw applied : direct to the plant bills and bro^a^t. 



