FARMERS' REGISTER— TO TOBACCO PLANTERS- 



£91 



the flavour of low g;round tobacco, to take it up to 

 the high land of pure air to be cured. It is as im- 

 practicable to make rich or fine hio;h priced tobac- 

 co on poor land, or rather on poor tobacco hills, as 

 it is impossible for nature to generate something 

 from nothing, without any primeval essential mat- 

 ter to act upon. 



Then to account for and explain the erroneous 

 opinions in circulation, that much of the fine high 

 priced tobacco has been made on poor land, let 

 the following fact suffice, the evidence of which 

 abounds extensively amongst 3'ou. Many of you 

 who have not rich land, have resorted to the ne- 

 cessity of picking the best spots of your thin land 

 with onl}' a thin coat of soil, and that coat nearly 

 all composed of vegetable matter, scraped into 

 hills, which caused them to be tolerably rich, ac- 

 tive and productive for one or two years, and this 

 is generally new ground. In this way, a part of 

 the fine high priced tobacco has been made, 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. 



CUTTIKG AXD FLAVOUR. 



These two terms appear at first to be unconnec- 

 ted, but as the latter depends very much upon the 

 former, I have united them. No one essential is 

 more material to the value of tobacco, than a good 

 fine flavour. 



One of the greatest errors is committed, in cut- 

 ting before it gets entirely ripe, which is the chief 

 cause why so much is defective in flavour, colour, 

 and substance ; and why so much feels rich and 

 thick without looking or being so. 



As tobacco is an aromatic plant, and one of the 

 most fragrant and odoriferous that is indigenous to 

 this country, when ripened and cured to its great- 

 est perfection, it is not strange that so much of it 

 should lack those qualities when cut before it is 

 ripe ; particularly when we take into considera- 

 tion, that the odours of nearly all the aromatic fa- 

 mily are very delicate and volatile, and never ac- 

 quired in the greatest degree, till the last stages of 

 their growth, and some never fully consummated 

 till they get through the process of curing, which 

 is peculiarly the case with tea and tobacco. Much 

 of the flavour, as well as substance and weight, 

 are lost by premature cutting. But these are not 

 all the losses from it : the impracticability of cur- 

 ing 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. But it can be 

 cured of a bright colour, which will soon fade away, 

 like a thin, poor patient in a fever, after it abates 

 and subsides. 



As I hazard nothing in the declaration, that eve- 

 ry 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 he last- 

 ing and delicious to the taste and smell. And al- 

 though good colour and flavour constitutes the 

 chief value, yet no more than about one-tenth of 

 the Virginia crop has ever come to market with 

 these great advantages. 



Of all the plants known to the writer, tobacco is 

 constituted and composed of the richest, strongest, 

 and most delicious, and also the most delightful in- 



gredients. The alcohol or spirit, the oil and opium, 

 le sugar or saccharine matter, the mucilaginous 

 wax and gums, the acids and nitre, with several 



of the other volatile salts, &c. all so harmoniously 

 combined, constitutes this the richest and most de- 

 licious compound ever engendered and generated 

 in any one plant. No wonder, then, that all clas- 

 ses of every country and clime, from the savage 

 to the civilized part of mankind, should take de- 

 light ih its use. It forms the traveller's compan- 

 ion, and the philosopher's aid. It is the old bache- 

 lor's antidote ; the epicure's last resort, and sai- 

 lor's and soldier's third daily ration. It keeps open 

 the sentinel's eyes ; and besides medical, and ma- 

 ny other good effects, it cheers the watchman in 

 the silence of the night. Wonderful v/eed of Ame- 

 rican origin ! 



Many incorrect and erroneous opinions have 

 gone into circulation respecting colour; impres- 

 sions have been extensively made in the country 

 that yellow is a favourite colour. 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 desira- 

 ble. Such a mixture as is to be found in fat light- 

 wood, and brilliant, rich, bright mahogany. The 

 dull brown and dark dingy colours, are very ob- 

 jectionable. The next best colour to the favour- 

 ite one just described, is a rich, deep j-ellowish 

 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 

 contains that shade which lessens the fine flavour, 

 and detracts from the value. 



All rich, ripe tobacco, can be cured of the fat 

 lightwood colour with its rich aspect — and as the 

 greater proportion of you understand two process- 

 es which can produce the effect, and you can ob- 

 tain the information from each other, a description 

 (which is difficult,) is deemed unnecessary. 



A similar colour, in a faint and feeble degree, 

 can be given to the poor, thin tobacco, and is cer- 

 tainly a handsome dressing for it in the new state, 

 and is well calculated to take with superficial judg- 

 es. But as such a dressing injures the stamina, 

 and increases the fading 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 competent judge. 



The dapple, or pieball, is very much admired 

 by many purchasers who are esteemed good judg- 

 es ; and when this aspect is given to that which is 

 very potent, it is similar to Jamaica 4th and 5th 

 proof rum, which can lose a great deal of strength 

 and still be sufficiently good and strong. But 

 those variegated colours are a disadvantage. The 

 variegation is produced either by too rapid curing, 

 which exhausts the lightest coloured parts too 

 much, or by brliising and pressing ; and when the 

 bruised parts come to be acted upon by the air, ei- 

 ther in or out of the hogshead, they fade and exhaust : 

 this bruising is the cause why manufactured to- 

 bacco fades sooner than leaf, both being equally ex- 

 posed to air, and of equal quality originally. A 

 competent judge had rather have the 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 evi- 

 dence of rich, well cured tobacco, in its highest 

 perfection of growth and curing. 



