THE GENESEE FARMER. 



built the better, providing the rain is kept out. The size will of course depend on the 

 number of acres cultivated ; but it is better to have too much than too little room, as 

 there is great danger of spoiling the crop if placed too thick in the drying room. When 

 sufficiently dry the plants are taken down and the leaves stript off, laid in heaps about 

 four feet high to stveat for a few days ; they are then tied in bundles with a moist leaf, 

 placed in boxes, and sent to market. Tobacco grown in Western New York, and treated 

 in this way, is worth in New York about eight cents per pound. 1500 lbs. per acre is 

 an average crop here. 



We have said before it is an exhausting crop, and we should be sorry to see its 

 cultivation extensively adopted by our farmers in the wheat growing districts. In 

 several of the Western States this crop can be profitably cultivated, as the soil and 

 climate is well adapted to its growth, and the cost of transportation on the money value 

 is comparatively nothing to what it is on wheat and Indian corn ; or, to make our 

 meaning plain, it costs no more to transport 60 lbs. of tobacco than it does a bushel of 

 corn, though one is worth |48 and the other 48 cents. The same reasoning applies to 

 wool and pork, and everything of a high price, per weight or bulk. 



AMOUNT OF WATER GIVEN OFF BY PLANTS DUFJNG THEIR GROWTH. 



]\Ir. Lawes has recently published the result of some experimental investigations of the 

 source and fixation of the various constituents of plants, from which we make a few 

 selections, especially in reference to the amount of water given off during their growth. 

 The plants taken for experiment were wheat, barley, beans, peas, and clover. The 

 soil used was from a plot on which ten grain crops had been successively grown without 

 having any manure supplied. There were three plants taken of each kind. One set of 

 plants were without any manure ; one set with mineral manures added ; and one set 

 with mineral manures and muriate of ammonia added. But we must confine our atten- 

 tion at this time to the unmanured ones. Glass jars 14 inches in depth and 9 inches in 

 diameter, capable of holding 42 lbs of soil, were the vessels used. After the vessels were 

 filled, plates of glass having a hole in the center about three-fourths of an inch in diam- 

 eter in which to place the j^lant, and another near the side by which to supply the water 

 when it was needed, the latter one being kept tightly corked except while the water was 

 being applied, were cemented on the top of the jars, so as to prevent evaporation from 

 the surface. The scales employed for weighing the plants were constructed on purpose 

 for these experiments, and were calculated to turn with a third of a grain Avhen loaded 

 with from half a hundredweight to a hundredweight in each pan. Between the time of 

 planting and the full growth of the plants more than twenty weighings were taken ; and 

 weighed quantities of water were supplied whenever required. The amount of water in 



the soil at the time of 

 planting was determined 

 by analysis. The jars 

 were placed on a truck, so 

 that they could be easily 

 drawn into a green-house 

 in case of a shower. The 

 annexed cut will give an 

 idea of the arrangement 

 of the experiment. The 

 empty jar is for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining the amount of evaporation through the center hole. The following 

 table shows the amount of water supplied, derived from the soil, and given oflf by the 



