NICOTIANA 



Bengal 



THE TOBACCO PLANT 



Areas. 



Distribution in 

 Bangpur. 



Wells. 



High-class 

 Cultivation. 



Tobacco 

 Area of India. 



Size of Plant. 



Soil. 



Eotation. 



Manure. 

 Seasons. 



Seed to Acre. 

 Transplanting. 



Ploughings. 

 Irrigation. 



Chittagong, Sylhet and Kamrup, etc. In some of these districts it is, 

 moreover, largely grown for trade and export. In 1905-6 the total area 

 under tobacco in the two provinces of Bengal was 535,525 acres, more 

 than half that of all India, and in Assam 4,911 acres. The districts of 

 Rangpur and Jalpaiguri and the Native State of Kuch Bihar contain the 

 largest areas. In 1904-5 the area in Rangpur was 181,100 acres and in 

 Jalpaiguri 119,300 acres. Two species, N. Tabacum and N. rustica, 

 are grown. The former is generally called desi, and the latter vilayati 

 (foreign). Vilayati is largely cultivated in Purneah and neighbourhood. 

 So little attention has been paid by writers on this subject that it is said 

 no cultivated races of vilayati are known, but that the desi has many 

 such, the most important of which is known as hi-ngli, produced in parts 

 of Nadia and Jessore. 



One of the most striking features of Rangpur is the extent of tobacco 

 cultivation (Agri. Ledg., 1898, No. 15, 508). Both N. Tabacnm and 

 N. rustica are grown, wherever the soil is a rich, sandy loam with water 

 only a few feet below the surface. Shallow wells are dug all over the to- 

 bacco-fields, and during certain stages in growth hand irrigation is daily 

 pursued. The water is thrown from the wells so as not merely to supply 

 moisture to the roots but to wash the dust off the leaves. The agricultural 

 system pursued is of a very high order, and it is not to be wondered at 

 that tobacco should prove so valuable and remunerative a crop, in a 

 country pre-eminently the tobacco area of India. The railway to Jatrapur 

 cuts the district practically in two. In the one half, the northern, with 

 its rich sandy loam, N. Tabacuiti is cultivated ; and in the other, the 

 southern, with its lower, damper soil, N. rustica prevails. But wherever 

 the red-clay soil appears, tobacco cultivation at once disappears. In 

 Rangpur and Kuch Bihar it is no unusual occurrence to find a single leaf 

 of N. Tabacum measuring 3 to 4 feet in length. 



The following account of cultivation has been derived mainly from 

 Mukerji and Roy. The crop requires a good soil and heavy manuring. 

 The best kind is a well-drained friable, sandy loam, not too rich in organic 

 matter, but rich in mineral salts, especially those of potassium. It may 

 be grown after jute or Indian corn, but often forms the only crop of the 

 year. If properly manured, it can be grown three or four years on the 

 same ground. The seeds are sown in seed-beds in August or September, 

 and the seedlings transplanted a month later. The soil of the seed-bed is 

 dug and manured with cow-dung and ashes until raised about 6 inches. 

 After the soil has been well pulverised the seed is sown thin and lightly 

 covered with earth. About half an ounce is required to produce plants 

 for one acre. 



When the seedlings are about 3 inches high they are fit for trans- 

 plantation, which takes place from the end of September to the middle of 

 November. The soil must previously be prepared by eight or ten plough- 

 ings. Deep cultivation and thorough pulverisation are important, and a 

 liberal manure of rotted cow-dung and ashes is necessary. The seedlings 

 are planted in the evening 3 feet apart. They must be carefully 

 watered the first few days, and irrigation is necessary afterwards at inter- 

 vals of ten to twenty days. In Rangpur and Jalpaiguri a hand-plough 

 is repeatedly drawn along and across the fields until about the time that 

 the flower-buds appear. Where artificial irrigation is required, regular 

 hoeing is necessary. 



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