IT. THE METHODS EMPLOYED IN RAISING THE 

 EXPERIMENTAL PLANTS. 



The cultivation of N. rustica in India follows closely that 

 practised in the case of the allied species, N. tahacinn. In 

 Bihar, high-lying well-manured fields are selected for this crop 

 arid the land is kept fallow after the previous rahi harvest and 

 continually cultivated. In some districts, hardly any rotation is 

 practised, tobacco following tobacco for several years on the same 

 land. The seeds are sown in raised nurseries, to prevent 

 flooding by rain, after the end of the monsoon and the seed- 

 lings, when about 3 inches high, are planted out in the field, 

 about 12 to 18 inches apart each way and rather closer together 

 than in ordinary tobacco. Transplanting is done in the late after- 

 noon, the young plants are watered for a few days and covered, 

 during the heat of the day, with leaves until they are established. 



After this, two objects are kept in view : (1) the land is kept 

 free from weeds and continually surface-cultivated with the 

 khurpi or hand-hoe ; and (2) the tobacco plants are prevented from 

 wasting their energies in the production of suckers and flowers. 

 When the plants are about 18 inches high, the tops are broken 

 off and a small skewer is inserted at the fracture and pushed a 

 little way down. The ryots believe this has the effect of dwarf- 

 ing the plant and prevents it throwing out more suckers. Each 

 topped plant bears eight to ten leaves, which constitute the crop. 

 The plants are cut down as a whole in February and cured in the 

 country fashion. The object of the ryot is to grow as large a 

 quantit}^ as possible of coarse, strong tobacco. Quality is not 

 considered, and such operations as priming are not carried out. 



The study of the characters of the tobacco plant in the field 

 and their inheritance is beset with special practical difficulties. 

 Much has been said in the literature on the marked variation 



