TOBACCO. 255 



Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). — Trinidad tobacco, from the 

 district of Siparia, was judged at the Exhibition as inferior only 

 to the Havanna, and yet its cultivation is limited to a few acres 

 of land, and the quantity thus raised is consumed on the spot 

 where it is grown, whilst a sufficiency might be easily raised for 

 the entire island consumption. The annual quantity of tobacco 

 imported is 318,300 pounds, equal to £10,000 sterling. The 

 tobacco-plant requires a light, dry, and rich soil ; it is sown in 

 September, and the young plants transplanted when about six or 

 seven weeks old : they are generally planted two by four feet 

 apart. When five feet high, the upper bud is cut off, as also the 

 young shoots which spring from the axilla of the leaves : from 

 seventeen to twenty of the latter are preserved, and, as they 

 gradually arrive at maturity, are picked off, successively, to 

 undergo the process of curing. This process, although most 

 essential to the good quality of the article, is very carelessly 

 performed here. The soil and climate of Venezuela being very 

 similar to that of Trinidad, it will not be amiss to furnish such 

 information on the culture of this plant there, as may prove 

 acceptable to tobacco growers in this island. The seeds are 

 sown in very rich and deep soil, and after forty or fifty days the 

 plants are taken up and transplanted at about two feet apart, and 

 in rows of nearly four feet interval ; from ten to fifteen leaves 

 only are left on each plant, in order to obtain tobacco of a superior 

 quality. When a space of dark blue shows itself near the 

 pedicle, the leaves are sufficiently mature to be plucked, and are 

 carried under sheds, where they are spread out in layers, on 

 hurdles ready for the purpose. The tobacco now becomes yellow, 

 and quite soft ; the stems of the leaves are then removed, the 

 leaves themselves twisted together, and put up in bundles of 

 seventy-five or one hundred pounds. These bundles are next 

 placed on a larger heap, made of damaged tobacco leaves, and the 

 stems stripped off; the whole heap is then covered over and 

 allowed to ferment for forty-eight hours, the leaves being 

 sprinkled with water, should the tobacco become too dry. After 

 the twists have undergone sufficient fermentation, they are un- 

 folded, and the leaves hung up under the shed, in order to 

 promote the evaporation of any superfluous humidity. If the 

 tobacco is found to possess the requisite qualities, it is then made 

 into manojos, or small packages of five pounds each. In case the 



