204 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



The leaves may be stripped in damp weather, when they will 

 not crumble, and carefully bound in small bundles, termed 

 hands, and then boxed for shipment. 



THE VARIETIES of tobacco are numerous, not less than 12 

 being cultivated in America, and they are adapted to the dil". 

 terent soils and climates where they are grown. The most 

 fragrant are produced in Cuba, and are almost exclusively 

 used for cigars. They command several times the price of 

 ordinary kinds. The tobacco of Maryland and the adjoining 

 states is peculiarly rich and high flavored, and is most esteem- 

 ed for chewing. 



Much of the peculiar flavor and value of tobacco depends 

 on the soil, and the preparation or sweating of the plant after 

 drying. The former should not be too rich, and never highly 

 manured, as the flavor is thereby materially injured though 

 the product will be increased. Yet it is an exhausting crop, 

 as is seen by the large quantity and the analysis of the ash, 

 and the soil requires a constant renewal of well fermented 

 manures, and particularly the saline ingredients, to prevent 

 exhaustion. Tobacco contains nitrogen and the alkalies in 

 large quantities, and but very little of the phosphates. The 

 ash is shown in the analysis of Fresenius and Will, to consist, 

 of potash, 30.67 ; lime, (mostly, with a little magnesia,) 

 33.36 ; gypsum 5.60 ; common salt, 5.95 ; phosphates, 6.03 ; 

 silica, 18.39, in 100 parts of the ash. The inferior kinds 

 contain a large proportion of lime ; and the superior, the lar- 

 gest of potash. The customary method of burning fuel on 

 the beds designed for tobacco, and the use of freshly cleared and 

 burnt lands, by which the largest crops of the best quality are 

 obtained, shows conclusively the proper treatment required. 

 By each of these operations, the ground is not only loosened 

 in the best possible manner, and all insects and weeds de- 

 stroyed, but tJie salts, and especially potash, are produced in 

 the greatest abundance. Some of the best soils in Virginia 

 have been ruined by a constant succession of tobacco crops, 

 the necessaiy result of neglect in supplying them with the 

 constituents of fertility so largely abstracted. The yield per 

 acre is generally from 1500 to 2500 Ibs., and it is a profita- 

 ble crop when the best kinds are properly cultivated, under 

 favorable circumstances of soil, climate, &c. The total esti- 

 mated product of the United States for 1843, was over 185,- 

 000,000. Ibs. of which Kentucky furnished 52,000,000, and 

 Virginia nearly 42,000,000 Ibs. Missouri, Ohio, and other 

 states are rapidly becoming large producers. 



