RULES FOR SELECTING SOIL. 427 



for a cigar wrapper. In some countries, however, the leaf 

 grown near salt water is equal in color and texture to any 

 grown in the interior. But generally the plant obtains its 

 finest form and quality of leaf whether in the islands of 

 the ocean, on the great prairies of the west, amid the sands 

 of Arabia, on the mountains of Syria, or along the dykes of 

 Holland on lands bordering the largest rivers. This is true 

 of the tobacco lands of Connecticut, Kentucky, Virginia, 

 Florida, Brazil, Venezuela, and Paraguay, as well as of those 

 in the islands of Cuba and St. Domingo, where the rivers 

 flow to the southern coast from the mountains which lie to 

 the north. It must not be imagined from this that tobacco 

 can not be successfully cultivated at a distance from valleys 

 enriched by large and overflowing rivers. Some of the finest 

 tobacco grown in Connecticut is grown in counties some 

 distance from the river that gives name to our state. 



"When possible, select that kind of soil for the tobacco 

 field that will produce the color and texture of leaf desired. 

 For Connecticut seed leaf a light moist loam is the proper 

 Boil. The same field can be used a number of seasons in 

 euccession ; the result will be a much finer leaf than will 

 come from selecting a new field each year. The early plant- 

 ers of tobacco in Virginia soon ruined their fields by failing 

 to manure them. In Maryland the soil best adapted for the 

 growth of tobacco is a light, friable soil, or what is commonly 

 called a sandy loam, not too flat, but of a rolling, undulating 

 surface, and not liable to overflow in excessive rains. New 

 land is far better than old. 



A Missouri tobacco grower gives the following account of 

 the selection of soil for tobacco in that State : 



"Select upland, or black oak ridges and slopes, which 

 comprise a large area of the tobacco lands of our county, 

 and carefully clear off all the timber, and take out all 

 the roots we can conveniently, and break up the ground as 

 thoroughly as can be done by ploughing and harrowing until 

 all the tufts and dirt are perfectly pulverized." 



In Cuba the planters select -the red soil as the best for fine 

 tobacco. Some planters, however, prefer a soil mixed of J 



