PEEIQUE TOBACCO. 371 



Pointe, which is three miles from the river, and occu- 

 pies an insular position beyond the swamps, which here 

 run parallel with the course of the river. 



These spots are elevated only a few feet above the 

 encompassing swamps, but they are well drained and 

 have friable, sandy and calcareous soils, black, deep and 

 exceedingly fertile. Soil here, as well as everywhere, 

 has a controlling influence on the quality of the product. 

 The soils on the river bank at Convent are a gray allu- 

 vium, and the tobacco is brighter in color, but compara- 

 tively destitute of gummy matter, and, therefore, not so 

 well adapted to the manufacture of Perique as that 

 grown in black soils in the Vacheries, where the tobacco 

 is fine, but gummy, elastic and of good body. The best 

 soils are those known as magnolia soils, which are dark 

 in color, but made friable by a suitable admixture of 

 sand. They are warm and well drained. Black lands 

 mixed with yellow sands are the next in order of prefer- 

 ence. "Where the lands are lacking in the sandy mate- 

 rial they compact so closely that the tobacco plant does 

 not grow in healthful vigor. 



The variety planted is called the Perique, which 

 has a leaf of medium size, is a rapid grower, small 

 stem, and fiber tough and gummy, curing to a dark 

 brown color. Its rapidity of growth is probably due 

 to the warm situation and fertile soils on which it is 

 produced. 



The making of seed beds is unlike the same work in 

 other States. It begins in October. Cow manure at 

 that time is applied to the depth of six inches to a 

 chosen spot in the forest, and turned under with a 

 spade. In December the bed is reworked, but not 

 burned, and ditches are cut through it to secure drainage. 

 The seed is sown the first of January, and the bed is 

 then covered with palmetto leaves, as a safeguard against 

 the frosts of February. 



