10 TOBACCO. 



yield as much to the acre. Black river-bottoms will 

 yield more to the acre than any other kind of land, but 

 the tobacco is not of so fine a quality ; it grows larger, 

 has coarser stems, and heavier body, and consequently, 

 in my opinion, is not so good for wrappers or fine cut as 

 the second bottom or upland tobacco." 



On the same subject, an Illinois grower observes, " for 

 us in the West, and for all the localities that have not 

 an over-amount of heat, experience has proved, that a 

 dry, warm soil (loam or sandy loam), rich, deep, and 

 containing lime, is most suitable for tobacco. The more 

 sandy, to a certain degree, the soil is, the better will be 

 the quality of the tobacco; the nearer the soil is to clay, 

 the poorer will be the crop under similar circumstances, 

 although the yield may yet be satisfactory. Clayey soil 

 will hardly produce tobacco suitable for cigars. Wet and 

 tough clay soils are under no circumstances suitable to 

 tobacco." 



Situation. Land intended for tobacco-culture should 

 have good drainage, and be sheltered from high winds. 

 In Holland, where tobacco-cultivation is carried out to 

 great perfection, each field is surrounded by a hedge 

 about 7 ft. high ; the fields are divided into small plots, 

 which are again bordered by rows of plants that are able 

 to break the force of the wind, which would injure the 

 leaves, and render them of comparatively little value. 

 To this circumstance must chiefly be attributed the fact 

 that Dutch growers succeed in getting as much as 50 

 per cent, of leaves of the first quality, whereas in most 

 other countries 25 per cent, is considered to be a very 

 good outturn. 



