TOBACCO. 



TOBACCO. 



not change. Each bundle should be straight, and 

 closely packed in hogsheads in the usual way." 

 Some very excellent views upon the culture 

 and subsequent management of tobacco will 

 be found dispersed through the different south- 

 ern agricultural periodicals, and especially the 

 first volume of the Farmer's Register. One of 

 the communications in this last work, signed 

 Frederick Oronoko, is very full of information 

 upon every branch of the subject. The writer 

 states that two great errors are generally com- 

 mitted in topping and priming. On rich land 

 the plants are topped too low, which, with 

 planting too far apart, causes the leaves to 

 grow too large, coarse, and curly. On such 

 lands, instead of making 10 leaves, at least 12 

 should be made by topping to about 16, and 

 not finishing priming with the topping, but 

 commencing again when the four top leaves 

 get about half-grown. If the seasons be fa- 

 vourable to a rapid growth, some of the high 

 top suckers should be indulged a while, which 

 in a wet summer will prevent the leaves from 

 growing coarse. Nothing, he says, is easier 

 than to keep down the size of the leaves, and 

 prevent them from getting too large, if you will 

 only top high and indulge the suckers to a pro- 

 per extent in the early part of the summer, 

 when the seasons are favourable to rapid 

 growth. Sucker and prime judiciously, as the 

 rains subside and dry weather sets in. By 

 turning out a superabundance of leaves, it en- 

 ables one to speculate on the weather in this 

 crop with more certainty than can be done 

 with any other. The four top leaves are al- 

 ways the richest, if ripe, and of much the best 

 and most useful shape. In a plant of 10 leaves, 

 he thinks, in general, they are worth more than 

 the other six, although the four are not so 

 large, and do not usually weigh more than half 

 as much as the six. The same rules, he thinks, 

 are also applicable to the culture of tobacco on 

 thin land, such as can just barely produce a 

 crop, although he is opposed to the culture of 

 such poor land. One-third to one-half of the 

 Virginia crop is made upon such land as does 

 not pay for the labour. It is a general im- 

 pression that much of the fine, high-priced 

 tobacco has been made on poor land. It will, 

 he says, "be well to correct this error, as it has 

 caused much injury, and great loss of labour, 

 and final destruction and death to a great deal 

 of thin land, either poor originally, or in the 

 last stage of consumption by the Virginia-kill- 

 ing mode of cultivation. It is true, however, 

 to a notorious degree, that several poor coun- 

 ties have of late been very conspicuous, and, 

 perhaps, meritoriously celebrated, for making 

 fine, high-priced tobacco ; but the fine tobacco 

 was not made on poor land, when the land was 

 actually poor; it was made on the richest, 

 liveliest spots that could be picked out in those 

 poor counties. Many of those who have not rich 

 land, have resorted to the necessity of picking 

 the best spots of thin land with only a meager 

 coat of soil, and that coat nearly all composed 

 of vegetable matter, scraped into hills, which 

 causes them to be tolerably rich, active, and 

 productive for one or two years, as this is 

 generally new ground. In this way a part of 

 the fine, high-priced tobacco has been made, 

 132 



but much the greater part has been produced 

 by the rich land, with the aid of the art of high 

 curing, with but little or no fire." 



Another great error dwelt upon by the same 

 writer is that of cutting before the plant gets 

 entirely ripe, which is the chief cause why so 

 much is defective in flavour, colour, and sub- 

 stance ; and why so much feels rich and thick 

 without being so. The odoriferous qualities 

 of most aromatic plants are acquired in great- 

 est perfection during the last stages of their 

 growth, and some are never fully developed 

 till they get through the process of curing, 

 which is peculiarly the case with tea, coffee, 

 and tobacco. Much of the substance as well 

 as weight are therefore sacrificed by premature 

 cutting, which also prevents the plant from 

 curing with a good, lively, healthy colour. A 

 dull, dingy hue will inevitably be the aspect of 

 all that is cut green, cure it as you may. Any 

 bright colour given to it artificially by the pro- 

 cess of curing will fade away. " I hazard no- 

 thing in the declaration that every rich plant 

 cut in perfection, fully ripe, whether on rich 

 or thin land, bottom or high land, may be cured 

 of good colour and flavour, that will be lasting 

 and delicious to the taste and smell. And al- 

 though good colour and flavour constitute the 

 chief value, yet no more than about one-tenth 

 of the Virginia crop has ever come to market 

 with these great advantages. 



" Many incorrect and erroneous opinions 

 have gone into circulation respecting colour. 

 Impressions have been extensively made in the 

 country that yellow is a favourite hue. A 

 bright, lively colour is invariably admired by 

 the purchasers who give the highest prices. 

 But neither brown, red, nor yellow will do. A 

 rich mixture of red and yellow on the under 

 side of the leaf is desirable; such a mixture 

 as is to be found in fat lightwood, and brilliant, 

 rich, bright mahogany. The dull brown and 

 dark, dingy colours are very objectionable. 

 The next best colour to the favourite one just 

 described, is a rich, deep yellowish-green, or 

 rather the fat lightwood colour, with a slight 

 admixture or tinge of green, but it is so much 

 the worse of the green, in the ratio that it con- 

 tains that shade, which lessens the fine flavour, 

 and detracts from the value. 



"A similar colour, in a faint and feeble de- 

 gree, can be given to the poor, thin tobacco, 

 and is certainly a handsome dressing for it in 

 the new state, and is well calculated to take 

 with superficial judges. But as such a dress- 

 ing injures the stamina, and increases the fad- 

 ing in going through the sweat, either on land 

 or at sea, it should never be attempted, as it is 

 an injury, and will never take with any com- 

 petent judge." 



The dapple, or pieball, is very much admired 

 by many purchasers who are esteemed good 

 judges, but the writer thinks those variegated 

 colours a disadvantage, and the results of either 

 too rapid curing, or bruising in pressing. A 

 competent judge, he says, had rather have the 

 i under side of the leaf, stem, and fibres, all of 

 one colour, of the fat lightwood appearance / and 

 this uniformity in colour proves the maximum, 

 and is the best evidence of rich, well-cured 

 tobacco, in its highest perfection. 



4x2 1049 



