125 



The scientific facts pertaining to agriculture, so far as tliey 

 have'been discovered, are scattered through many books and 

 agricultural publications ; few of these publications are ac- 

 cessible to the ordinary farmer. 



Some service may be done to the farmers generally, and 

 especially in the Cotton States, by stating some important 

 facts that are accurately and certainly kno^n, and the ex- 

 perience of intelligent farmers and scientific men on the sub- 

 ject of tobacco culture and by presenting these in compact 

 form. 



Tobacco growing is one of the most profitable branches 

 of tropical and semi-tropical agriculture ; the subject has 

 been much neglected by writers of agricultural literature. 

 The importance of the subject to the farmer may be estima- 

 ted when it is considered that next to the cereals used as 

 staple articles of food, there is probably no plant so widely 

 and generally grown as tobacco, and certainly none that is 

 used by a greater number of the human race. It is pro- 

 posed in this Bulletin to notice some of the leading varieties, 

 some instructions for its successful cultivation and manage- 

 ment with a view to encourage the cultivation of a plant that 

 can be generally grown in this State, the climate and soil of 

 which, it is believed, suit it admirably in sufficient quantity* 

 not alone to satisfy all local demands, but to open up a large 

 and profitable export trade. 



The investigation of this subject was commenced in 1892, 

 and methods of cultivation and management of this crop 

 were given in Bulletins No. 37, March 1892, No. 44, May 

 1893, and No. 54, February 1894. 



I. 



RAISING THE PLANTS. 



It has been demonstrated from experiments made in the 

 raising of tobacco plants that the young plants were easily 

 affected by cold and quickly killed by freezing weather, in 

 this climate, in fact, they seemed to be affected sooner in this 



