548 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



autumn, and again ploughed and labored in the spring. The 

 manures used are cow and pigs manure, and likewise the manure 

 of sheep, which is deemed peculiarly favorable. Malt-dust from 

 the breweries is much valued; and very large dressings of rape 

 cake, sometimes in powder and sometimes dissolved in the urine 

 cistern, are extensively used. If fecal matter is mixed with this, 

 it is essentially improved for this object. The manure of horses, 

 even the urine of horses, is objectionable, as giving a bad taste 

 to the tobacco. What worse taste can be given to it than its 

 ordinary taste, it would be difficult to imagine. 



The seed is first sown in a nursery-bed, in a warm and shel 

 tered exposure, in March ; the nursery-bed should be well- 

 wrought and manured ; and, in case of danger of frost, the young 

 plants require some protection either of bushes or of straw. The 

 transplanting is usually made with a dibble in June, when the 

 young plants have acquired a growth of six leaves. They are 

 set out in rows two feet apart, and in the row the plants are 

 fourteen inches apart. In about fourteen days the plants require 

 to bo hoed, and the plantation to be kept clean of weeds. When 

 the plants have acquired a height of ten or twelve leaves, they 

 are then, as it is sometimes termed, stopped, that is, the top- 

 shoot is pinched off, so as to prevent its rising any higher; and 

 all side shoots are broken off, so as to leave only one stalk. In 

 this way the sap of the plant is thrown wholly into the leaves. 

 The tobacco plant is subject to be injured by frosts, especially 

 in low grounds ; and is likewise liable to rust, under which the 

 leaves perish and fall to the ground. This depending, as is sup 

 posed, upon a bad exposure or a bad condition of the soil, as yet 

 unascertained, no remedy has been discovered. I have not been 

 able to learn that the tobacco worm, so well known in the 

 United States, and so destructive unless means are taken to 

 remove it. is known in Europe. This is a large green caterpillar, 

 found under the leaves : and sometimes a large drove of turkeys 

 ts sent into the plantation, who pick them off and regale them 

 selves upon them. This is the nearest approach within my 

 knowledge to the use of this weed among the inferior animals ; 

 the worms eat the tobacco ; the turkeys eat the worms. 



When the leaves begin to turn yellow, the harvest begins ; 

 they arc picked off by hand close to the stalk, and, after a little 

 exposure to the sun, are then tied up in bands and hung up under 



