YELLOW TOBACCO. 359 



poid rocks, and reddish in color, wheat, rye, corn and 

 potatoes were grown, with generous yields, but no 

 tobacco was planted, except for the purpose of growing 

 a heavy shipping leaf. 



An analysis of the tobacco soil taken from this farm 

 shows organic and vegetable matter, 1.205; silicic anhy- 

 dride, 93.50; ferric oxide-, 0.2675; alumina, 2.490; 

 manganous oxide, 0.0417 : lime, 0.233 ; magnesia, 

 0.0847; potash, 0.5045; soda, 0.2892; phosphoric anhy- 

 dride, 0.0379; sulphuric anhydride 0.0140. The soil 

 geologically comes from the oldest known geological 

 formation, the Archean. The field from which the 

 sample of soil was taken for analysis had been used for 

 tobacco six years in succession, but was previously an 

 "old field" that had been exhausted by cultivation and 

 had been 'allowed to lie untilled for some fourteen years 

 previous to being used for tobacco. It is possible that 

 the very small amount of organic and volatile matter 

 reported was due to the application of small quantities 

 of stable manure every year. Practically, this so-called 

 soil is nothing but a porous sponge of sandy material, 

 destitute almost of every element that supports vegeta- 

 ble life. 



PREPARATION OF THE LAND. 



The light grayish, sandy soil, with a yellowish, 

 clayey or sandy subsoil, being selected, preference is 

 given in nearly all the yellow-tobacco-growing districts 

 to new lands, or rather to old fields that have grown up 

 in pines and chinquapin bushes and cleared a second 

 time. In Granville county, Nprth Carolina, in the 

 South Carolina tobacco districts, and in Halifax county, 

 Virginia, the best farmers, however, prefer old lands, 

 upon which some grain or grass crop had been grown 

 the previous year. The rotation with tobacco in the 

 South Carolina and in the Champaign district of North 



