May 16, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



3«5 



which hanls the soil into light ridges, follow the marker ; this 

 leaves a place for the row as smooth as a roller would leave the 

 surface. Take a light wheel (or one may be attached to the 

 ooverer), and fasten blocks to the outer edge 2 feet apart, and 

 have a shaft and handle for hand use. Go over the ridges with 

 it, marking the place for hills ; with the hand hoe open the 

 holes and drop into them guano and plaster, mixed at the rate 

 of 150 lbs. of the former to 250 of the latter to the acre ; cover 

 3 inches deep with fine soil and spat with the hoe, leaving it a 

 little depressed for setting the plant. 



TiiANSPLANTiNG. — A cloudy, moist time is the best ; although 

 by watering the ground, and again watering the plant after 

 setting, it may be done with safety in very dry weather, if 

 thoroughly done. The plants should be carefully raised from 

 the bed, using care not to mutilate them or break off their roots ; 

 a dinner fork, to run down beside the plant, by prizing up will 

 loosen them so that they may be raised by the leaves. Place 

 them in a basket ready to drop out by a careful boy, one on a 

 hiU. Care should be used in setting to run the roots straight 

 into the giound without doubling them, to the depth they gi-ew 

 in the bed ; tlie plant when set should be left as nearly as it 

 grew as possible, no pinching of the bud or crowding the leaves 

 together. In pressing the soil down around them a little de- 

 pression of the plants cannot well be avoided ; this is advanta- 

 geous rather than otherwise. 



CoLTivATiNG. — In a few days the plants will have taken root ; 

 the cultivation should then be commenced with the horse 

 cultivator, followed by the hand-hoe, stirring the soil but little 

 close around the plants. The cultivation should be repeated 

 once in ten days, till there is danger of injury to the plants in 

 going among them with the honse and cultivator ; then further 

 culture should be done with the hoe, keeping the ground per- 

 fectly free of weeds. As the leaves are what the crop is grown 

 for, they should be well cared for, in order that they may not 

 be injured at any stage. 



Enemies. — First is the cut worm, which eats off the plant; 

 the only remedy is to hunt it out, kill it, and supply a new plant 

 at the first opportunity ; this worm will need to be looked after 

 often, till all danger of injury from that cause is over. Next 

 ■we have the green or Tobacco worm, which commences when 

 the leaves are the size of your hand, sometimes. This worm 

 comes from the egg of the Tobacco-miller — known in different 

 parts as Homblower, Humming bird miller, &c., a miller about 

 the size of a humming bird, of a dusty brown, with orange- 

 coloured spots on his body, a trunk-like tongue 5 or 6 inches 

 long, and when not in use closely coiled between his feelers. 

 The eggs are a trifle lighter in colour than the leaf, about the 

 size of a pin's head. The worm is very small when first hatched, 

 and very likely to escape unobserved ; a small hole lite a pin- 

 hole in the leaf will reveal its retreat on looking at the under 

 Bide of the leaf. The remedy is the same as in the former case, 

 by destroying them and keeping the plants free from them, or 

 they will have a ragged appearance. 



Topping. — Here is where the best judgment of the grower is 

 called into exercise ; experience can only determine the right 

 point, so that all the leaves will mature and none be wasted. 

 After the plants have run up to flower, the tops should be 

 broken off, leaving them uniformly 2.J feet high. All the plants 

 will not be ready for topping at the same time, so some run a 

 little past and others are topped sooner. All should be topped 

 previous to August 20th. 



SncKEBiNG. — This consists in breaking off the shoots which 

 start from the stalk at the axils of the leaves ; these should be 

 kept broken off as fast as tliey make their appearance ; the last 

 suckering to be done immediately before cutting. 



CuRiMG-BARN. — .4 separate building, arranged expressly for 

 the purpose, is the best ; but stables and sheds can be used for 

 want of better. A building 30 by 32, with 15feet posts, will 

 hang an aero of good Tobacco, by hanging three full tier and a 

 part tier on the purlin beams. A basement room under a part 

 or all of the building is convenent for stripping, packing, &c. 

 One half of the siding should be hung on hinges, and tliere 

 should be a ventilator in the roof to admit of free ventilation, 

 &c. The cross beams should be arranged equally distant for 

 resting the poles for hanging on. For poles get straight poles 

 5 or 6 inches in diameter, or sawed scantling 2 by 5 ; these 

 are arranged 11 inches apart when filled with plants. 



Cdttinq andHodsino. — The Tobacco upon ripening assumes 

 a thick, harsh, or brittle appearance, turns a spotted-green 

 colour, &c. It should be cut before it become dead ripe, as it 

 wastes less and cures more evenly. A good hay-knife or backed 

 saw is the best to cat with ; the plant is cut close to the 



ground by leaning it over a little and placing the knife under 

 the leaves, and by an ea.^y dab the stalk is severed from its 

 roots and laid gently down to welt ; after welting partly it is 

 turned over to welt on the other side, when it is ready to cart 

 to the barn. A platform waggon is best to cart on ; lay it on 

 crossways, but uniformly- one way. To save handling, two 

 Uams or waggons are necessary, with sufficient help tu hand 

 it from the load to the one who hanga. Commence by tying 

 your twine to a plant, and place it by the side of the pole ; on 

 the opposite side, about G inches along, place the nest, and se- 

 cure it by a single turn of the twine from left to right, tUuB 

 placing them alteniately till the pole is filled, when the twine 

 is secured. Good strong hemp twine is used. Cutting should 

 be done when the dew is off ; and all cut before noon, housed 

 by that time, or it may sunburn. A clear, hot sun will burn it 

 often in twenty minutes. The Tobacco all hung, give it all 

 the ventilation possible in fair weather, without allowing the 

 sun to shine on it directly; in rainy or foggy weather close it 

 in. The sweat or pole burn happens in about two week.^ after 

 hanging if the weather be sultry and damp. Clear, diying 

 weather or tight buildings are desirable .at tlds time as a pre- 

 ventive. 



Stripping. — When the sap is all dried out of the leaf-stem 

 the Tobacco is cured ; and when a mild, damp time cumes 

 open the barn that it may become moistened ; when it can, fee 

 handled without rustling take it down, carry it to the basement, 

 and bulk it free from the ground, butta out, tips h>|<ping about 

 one-third. No more should be bulked than can be .stripped 

 cut in three or four days, or it may be injured. It is sorted 

 into two or three lots, according as it is more or less perfect ; 

 each sort is kept separate, aud done up in hanks of about thrpe 

 to the pound ; the butts of the leaves are kept even and bound 

 neatly with a leaf wound round and tacked into the bank ; 

 neatness in this part often adds several cents per pound to tl^e 

 value. The Tobacco, after being stripped, should be bulli;ef( 

 soon, to keep it from drying out. 



Casing. — Most of our large, successful growers case their 

 own Tobacco, after lying a short time in bulk ; a mild time js 

 chosen, when it is piessed into boxes 2 feet 4 inches square, 

 by 2i feet long inside measure ; 375 lbs. are pressed in each 

 case, with a lever or screw for the purpose. The hanks are laid 

 in butts to the end of tiie box, away one inch, to prevent crowd- 

 ing against the end ; the leaves are straightened out smooth, to 

 keep them from pressing in wrinkles. Tlie following season the 

 Tobacco undergoes a fermentation or sweat, which makes it 

 Tobacco ready for manufucturiug. 



By high manuring and thorough culture. Tobacco may bo 

 continuously grown on the same ground ; but it is geui'rally at 

 the expense of the fertility of tne rest of the farm. A better 

 way is to make it one in a course of rotation ; in this way au 

 improvement in the fertility of the farm is constantly guing on. 

 — (W. H. White, in Albany Country GcnXleman.) 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS. AMD 

 FRUITS. 



CvMBiDinM HooKEKiANCM (Dr. Hooker's Cjmbidiuiii). — Nut. 

 ord., Orchidacea;. Linn., Gyuandria Momiudria. Native cf 

 the Sikkim Himalaya. Flowers large, gjeen; lip ytUow, 

 spotted with reddish purple. — (Bot. ilitfl., t. 6574.) 



Thidacdlv coronaiua {Small-leaved Tljii'audial. — Nat. orA., 

 Vaeciniacea;. Linn., Dccaudria Mouogj'uia. Native of Uje 

 Andes. Flowers dull red. — {liid., t. 5575.) 



MicROCAcHRVS TETKAGONA (Slniwlinrry-ri uited Cypress). — 

 Nat. ord., CouiferiB. Linn., Dicecia Munandria. Naliv,e,<ff 

 Tasraaniiin Mountains. Cone fleshy, uud brilliant 6(;arl<ji.7- 

 (lUUl., t. 5576.) _ _„i 



Iris reticulata (Netted Iris). — Kal. nrd., Iridoa;. Liwi., 

 Triandria Trigjnia. Native of Gdirjiiii, IVrsia. &t:. VIi-w^tk 

 rich purple, and richly perfumed like the Vi. 1'. iJhid., 

 t. 5577.) 



Geropeoia bororia (Kaffrarian Ceropr-gia). — Nat. cle- 



piadaceoB. Linn.. Pentmidria Monogjiiia. Native af ;:uIii:io». 

 Petals reflexed like the Cyclamen's, ] nh: yiien ba;-rtd wi^i 

 purple. Siiniria (sisterly) is one of the iibsurd fj-ci-u: r.-maB 

 occasionally bestowed. It was given I (■CHl;^e tbi- ^'-..s.' it to 

 Dr. Harvey by a lady v;ho had pr(\'c r,-iv M-nt !.:m Lsvtther 

 species, C. Eowkeri. — (lliid., t. 5578 ) 



Tacsonia V.vn Volxemi.— See p. 32!1 — (i/oivi/ Uap-,?!. 389.) 



'Rose— lihick Pi ince.— Flowers dark jurplc ai:d crimson, 



