20 TOBACCO. 



light of the sun, carbonic acid and oxygen of the atmo- 

 sphere, water, nitrates and ammonia, and the ash-elements 

 enumerated in our table of analyses. The crop is limited 

 in quantity by that condition of growth, which is pre- 

 sented to it most sparingly. The richest and best pre- 

 pared soil without solar warmth, or without due supplies 

 of rain, cannot give a crop, and if weather be most favour- 

 able, then in one field it may be too little potash, in 

 another too little phosphoric acid, in another too little 

 nitrogen, which lowers the yield, or reduces the quality 

 of the product. 



" It is usual in tobacco culture to manure very heavily, 

 and in many cases it is probable that all the various 

 forms of plant food are present in available abundance. 

 But soils differ in the nature of the supplies which they 

 are able to yield to crops, and fertilizers even, when the 

 same in name, may be very unlike in fact. The chief 

 reliance of the tobacco farmer is stable manure. This, 

 however, is by no means uniform in origin, appearance, 

 evident quality, or chemical composition. The manure 

 from bullocks, wintered on hay and roots, is very different 

 from that of horses maintained chiefly on oats or corn. 

 The yard manure that contains much strawy litter or 

 much wasted hay, differs again from that of the city 

 stables, from which the straw is carefully raked out to be 

 used over and over again for bedding. The farm-made 

 manure is likely to be much richer in potash and lime, 

 and the city manure is richer in phosphates and nitrogen. 

 Yet in the reports of the farmer, these two essentially 

 different fertilizers are designated as stable manure 

 simply. 



