238 TOBACCO LEAF. 



places should be either hauled out and spread upon the 

 fields, or burned, while the disinfecting of barns as just 

 described for stem rot or white vein, is also advised. 



DISEASES OF THE GROWING PLANTS. 



There is probably no crop produced of the same 

 magnitude that suffers so little from disease as does 

 tobacco, and nearly all these diseases may be avoided by 

 proper care in the selection of the soils, in the judicious 

 application of manure, and in the cultivation of the 

 crop. The greatest number of diseases to which the to- 

 bacco is liable, come from a want of drainage in the 

 soil. The diseases rarely affect more than a fraction of 

 one per cent of the plants in a field. These diseases are 

 largely of a fungous nature, and are now being tardily 

 studied by scientific experts. Their efforts will ulti- 

 mately give us a scientific explanation of the form or 

 cause of the various diseases, but this book being mainly 

 of a practical nature, for popular use, we content our- 

 selves with a popular rather than a mycological and 

 physiological treatment of the subject. 



Rust or Fire Blight. The most common disease of 

 tobacco is known as "Brown rust" or ''Bed field 

 fire." This arises from three causes, viz : First, over- 

 ripeness in the plant ; second, a deprivation of moisture 

 while the plant is in vigorous growth, making the leaf 

 perish in spots for want of sustenance, and, third, the 

 use of too much heating manure applied in the hills, 

 with supervening dry weather. 



Another field fire called " Black fire," which is 

 totally different from the red field fire, is caused by 

 excessive humidity, and occurs only after continued 

 rains of several days' duration, with hot weather. This 

 black fire is much more to be dreaded than the brown 

 rust or. red field fire, for it attacks the plant while 

 immature, involving all the leaves, and necessitates the 



