No. 11. 



Culture of Tobacco. — Early Rising. 



343 



tlfe hills, and pour in. to each about half a 

 pint of water, and follow immediately after 

 and set the plants. They will live as well 

 set in this way in sunshine as in the rain. — 

 The ground should be looked over two or 

 thre« times afterwards, and re-set the vacant 

 plants. 



After Culture. — As soon as the plants are 

 well growing, we go through with the cul- 

 tivator, and again fill up the vacant places. 

 TJie crop should, be hoed three or four times 

 without hilling the plants. When the green 

 worms appear, they must be watched and 

 killed, or they will in a great measure des- 

 troy the crop. 



Topping. — Commence topping the tobac- 

 co when it is in the bloom, and manage to 

 top as much as possible the first time going 

 over, that it may all ripen at once. Leave 

 about twenty leaves to the stalk, and make 

 the field as even on the surface as possible. 

 If you have late plants in consequence of 

 re-setting, break them low, and they will 

 grow faster and ripen sooner for it. The 

 suckers should all be broken off and the 

 plants kept clear of weeds till they are cut. 



Cutting and Curing. — We should never 

 cut more than can be hung the same day and 

 next morning, while the dew is on. After 

 cutting, it should lie and wilt on one side, 

 then turn it and wilt the other ; then throw 

 it into heaps of six or eight plants each, and 

 let it lie till carted to the sheds, where it is 

 hung with cotton twine on poles twelve feet 

 long, and about twenty plants on each side. 

 It must hang till the stem of the leaf is 

 thoroughly cured to the stalk. It is then 

 taken down in a damp day (to prevent the 

 leaves from crumbling,) and stripped and tied 

 in three' small hands, keeping the broken 

 and poor leaves by themselves. It is then 

 packed, and pressed hard with the hands in 

 a double row, with the butts out, and if not 

 sufficiently cured in a few days, it must be 

 shaken up and re-packed, to prevent heating. 

 When fit for market it is brought in large 

 quantities and pressed in boxes containing 

 about four hundred pounds each, and sent 

 to the seaports and shipped to foreign coun- 

 tries. 



Value of Poudrette. — I used one barrel 

 of poudrette on my plants while on the bed, 

 leaving a small piece without it. The effect 

 was astonishing. The plants at the time of 

 setting were twice as large where the pou- 

 drette was used as where it was not, and 

 and they were not as much attacked by the 

 worms, which is an important consideration. 

 I set the last season about two and a half 

 acres in tobacco, which produced 5,100 lbs. 

 I sold it for $408. P. 



South Hadley Falls, Mass.. March 3, 1845. 



We had the pleasure of visiting our intel- 

 ligent correspondent above, last year, and 

 saw his tobacco crop growing. We recently 

 met with an enterprising farmer from Wind- 

 sor, who estimated the crop grown the past 

 year in the valley of the Connecticut and 

 its vicinity, at 5,000,000 lbs. He said he 

 could get from 12 to 16 cents per lb. for his; 

 and although it was used for a different pur- 

 pose, he did not know why it was not as good 

 as the Cuba, which sells from 25 to 35 cents 

 per lb. Prime tobacco land rents high at 

 present in the valley of the Connecticut — 

 from $25 to $50 per acre per annum. A rich, 

 friable loamy clay is considered the best soil 

 for this crop, which must be highly manured, 

 and deep and well worked. We think it 

 ought to be subsoil-plowed, and that guano 

 as well as poudrette would be an excellent 

 manure for it. The latter is the most last- 

 ing, and is said to keep off the fly. Coarse 

 barn-yard manure makes too rank a growth 

 of stalk and leaf, and injures the quality of 

 the tobacco; whereas, poudrette, guano, and 

 other fine and highly concentrated manures, 

 would add tp its aromatic flavor. We should 

 be glad to see carefully conducted experi- 

 ments made the present season with these 

 manures, on the tobacco crop. The different 

 kinds might be tried side by side on sepa- 

 rate rows, with a view of testing which 

 was best for that particular locality and kind 

 of soil. We should be pleased to learn 

 whether the culture of the finest Cuba to- 

 bacco has ever been attempted in New Eng- 

 land. This is frequently worth from 50 

 cents to $ 1 per lb. — Ed. Agriculturist. 



Early Rising. — Late rising is not the 

 habit of the very highest classes, for royalty 

 itself sets the contrary e.xample; and we 

 have met, before now, princes taking their 

 ride before breakfast at six o'clock. The pre- 

 sent king of Hanover we have repeatedly 

 seen out at that time. We have known Lord 

 Brougham, when chancellor, make appoint- 

 ments on matters of business at his private 

 residence for eight o'clock in the morning; 

 his own time of rising being four in summer, 

 and half past six in winter. Supposing that 

 a man rises at six, instead of eight, every 

 morning of his life, he will save, in the course 

 of forty years, twenty nifte thousand hours, 

 which is a great accession of available time 

 for study or business despatch; being, in fact 

 a gaining of three years, tour months, two 

 weeks, and six days. To any person -of fore- 

 sight, calculation, and industry, this fact 

 will prove a sufficient temptation to practise 

 the healthy and useful habit of early rising. 

 ■^Chambers' Journal. 



