Food for -^vill be found to have increased the fruiting power of the 

 ^"^^ plants, and to have also added to the flavor and color of 

 80 the fruit. 



Formula for Tomatoes: 



Nitrate of Soda (in two or more applications) 400 lbs. 



Superphosphate 400 



Sulphate of potash 100 " 



Tobacco. 



The value of tobacco depends so much upon its grade, 

 and the grade so much upon the soil and climate, as w^ell as 

 fertilization, that no general rules can be laid down in 

 tobacco culture. Leaving out special tobaccos, such as 

 Perique, the simplest classification of tobacco for the pur- 

 poses of this book are as follows: Cigar. — Tobacco for cigar 

 manufacture, grown chiefly in Connecticut and Wisconsin. 

 Manufacturing. — Tobacco manufactured into plug tobacco, 

 or the various forms for pipe smoking and cigarettes. All 

 kinds of tobacco have the same general habits of growth, 

 but the two classes mentioned have very diff'er^nt plant 

 food requirements. 



Cigar tobaccos generally require a rather light soil; 

 manufacturing tobaccos prefer heavy, fertile soils. In either 

 case, the soil must be clean, deeply broken, and thoroughly 

 pulverized. ' Fall plowing is always practiced on heavy 

 lands, or lands new to tobacco culture. Tobacco may safely 

 be grown on the same land year after year. The plant 

 must be richly fertilized; it has thick, fleshy roots, and 

 comparatively little foraging power — that is, ability to send 

 out roots over an extensive tract of soil in search of plant 

 food. The crop needs of plant food are about 170 pounds 

 of ammonia per acre, 70 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 

 250 to 300 pounds of potash; on the basis of the chemical 

 analysis of the whole crop. As phosphoric acid is apt to 

 take insoluble and unavailable forms in the soil, the quantity 

 is usually more than doubled. The fertilizers recommended 

 for tobacco vary a great deal, but even with the phosphoric 

 acid double the actual need, the ammonia in the fertilizer 

 should exceed the phosphoric acid. 



Fertilizers for tobacco run from two to four per cent, 

 ammonia, eight to nine per cent, available phosphoric acid. 



