CULTTJKE OF CIGAE LEAF. 411 



of the mother plant. We find, upon inquiry, however, 

 that he has made only a few pot experiments. His 

 claims have led to some discussion in Germany and 

 Austro-Hungary, during which numerous instances have 

 been reported of tobacco plants from three to seven years 

 old. These plants were wintered in a greenhouse, the 

 seven-year-old plant measuring six yards in hight and 

 seven and one-half inches around the stem. Mr. Wal- 

 lensick, of Buende, possesses a cane made of the stem of 

 a five-year-old plant. In another case, new and vigorous 

 plants started with independent roots from pieces of old 

 root, this being really propagation by layering, the same 

 as for grapevines. 



Every practical tobacco grower in America, how- 

 ever, is familiar with the second growth of suckers that 

 comes up from old stalks after a mild winter, or that 

 grows after the harvest if the fall is favorable. Col. 

 Killebrew has studied this point in Mexico, where to- 

 bacco is perennial, but even to make good leaf in that 

 country no reliance can be placed upon suckers coming 

 from the principle stalk. Whether it will ever be feasi- 

 ble to propagate by slips or layers, remains to be demon- 

 strated. Until this is proven, we must sow the seed, 

 raise the plants, and set them out with all their original 

 vitality, in order to make good tobacco of any variety. 

 In Cuba and southern Florida, a second, and even a 

 third, crop of fillers may be obtained from a single sucker 

 left at the first and second cuttings of the crop. 



Opinions differ about distance to set tobacco. In 

 New England, Havana seed is usually planted in rows 

 three or three and one-fourth feet apart, and plants 12 

 to 18 inches apart in the row. For Connecticut broad- 

 leaf and all varieties of the larger domestic seedleaf, rows 

 are usually three and one-half feet apart, with 18 inches 

 between plants in the row. The object of having the 

 plants closer in the row is to get a very thin leaf, but 



