PART I. 

 TOBACCO EXPERIMENTS. 



Experiments in tobacco were continued the past year with 

 Plug and Cigar varieties. These experiments were under- 

 taken to ascertain the best method of raising tobacco plants 

 in Alabama, to find out the best kinds of tobacco for this 

 climate and soil, the most suitable fertilizers for the tobacco 

 crop, and for investigating some of the different methods of 

 curing tobacco. 



Methods of raising the plants.— The first bed for raising the 

 plants was made at the Horticultural Grounds Jan. 31st. A 

 frame was made of boards, 8x16 feet, such as is used for 

 hot-beds, and into this frame rich woods mould was placed, 

 well fertilized with equal portions of cotton seed meal and 

 acid phosphate. The seeds were sown in drills a few inches 

 apart, and the different varieties labelled. The bed was 

 then covered with cheese cloth sewn together to make 

 a close covering to keep in as much heat as possible 

 and fastened to the planks with tacks. In three weeks 

 from time of seeding, the plants came up. In this bed the 

 plants made a good growth and would have been large enough 

 for setting-out early in April, but for a freezing spell which 

 occurred March 25th, destroying corn that was up and gar- 

 dens generally. This unusually cold weather so late in the 

 Spring in this climate, continued for three days, and owing 

 to this bed being in a cold, exposed position, most of the 

 plants were killed. In this connection, I found that the thin 

 cheese cloth used for covering, in this instance, was not suf- 

 ficient to protect the young plants from freezing. A thicker 

 and better covering for the beds upon which oil is used in 

 its make, and which will last more than a year, is prepared 

 by T. W. Woods & Son, Richmond, Va. 



