FARMERS' REGISTER— TOBACCO. 



fl7d 



THE PREPARATION NECESSARY FOR A CROP 

 OF TOBACCO. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Farming and planting are so intimately con- 

 nectetl, especially in Mitldle Virginia, it seems de- 

 sirable, in order to make the Register acceptable 

 to every part of the state, that, it should contain 

 some information, on the subject of the tobacco 

 crop. I therefore propose in a series of (^says, to 

 give you my views and practice, 1st, as to the 

 preparation for the crop ; 2ndly, cultivation of the 

 crop; 3dly, cutting and curing; 4thly, stripping 

 and pressing; and5thly,the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of the crop. It is with very great reluc- 

 tance, I assure you, Mr. Editor, that 1 undertake 

 to break ground, on a subject hitherto untouched 

 by any of your correspontlents, and would cheer- 

 fully submit it to abler hands, but, that there 

 seems, to be a backwardness on the part of plant- 

 ers to communicate on this suliject. I trust there- 

 fore, as I have undertaken it, solely for the benefit 

 of the planting interest, that wlierever any im- 

 provements have been made upon my manage- 

 ment, the persons discovering, or practising them, 

 will please furnish them for your columns, that I 

 and others may receive the benefit of them, and 

 thus realize the advantages of a comparison of 

 views and practices on this subject. 



It may not be amiss then, in writing a number 

 of essays on this subject, to give the origin of the 

 plant in this country. " Tobacco, (Nicotiana) so 

 called from Tobago, one of the Caribbee Islands, 

 was first introduced into England, and thence into 

 Europe, i)y Sir Walter Raleigh," from whence, it 

 was brought into this country by its early settlers: 

 from which time, it has been largely and assiduously 

 cultivated, always forming a large item in the list 

 of our national exports. 



It may be proper here also to remark upon the 

 different varieties the plant has assumed since its 

 introduction into this country, owing I presume, to 

 our diversity of climate, cultivation, &c. The 

 varieties that have come under my notice, have 

 been called by the following names, to wit: the 

 blue Prior, the big Frederick, the little Frederick, 

 the Daniel Jones, the Oronoko and the Kite-Foot, 

 nearly all of which have taken their names from 

 the persons, who first introiluced them into this 

 part of the state. It is not deemed necessary, to 

 enter into a particular description of each variety ; 

 suffice it to say, however, that the blue Prior, has 

 my decided preference over all other kinds, on 

 account of its smallness of fibre, silkiness of tex- 

 ture, largeness of leaf, and being easier to cure, 

 than most of the other varieties. It has but two ob- 

 jections, that I know ot", that is, it is about ten days 

 later in ripening, and will not yield as much in 

 weight, on ordinary land, as the big Frederick, and 

 the Daniel Jones. But to give these two objections 

 their full force, it has still a decided preference in 

 my estimation, and, I therefore recommend it, to all 

 planters, living on the Roanoke, or its tributaries, 

 who have not made a trial of it. 



These things being premised, the first and most 

 important object, towards preparation for a crop of 

 tobacco with the judicious planter is, to burn and 

 sow, a sufficiency of good j)lant land, as it is im- 

 possible, to make a fine crop without a plenty of 

 plants, in good time. In order to effect this object 



then, from the first of February to the middle of 

 March, burn and sow all the land you .design for 

 plants, which is done in the following manner. 

 Select some moist spots, of rich virgin loam, mode- 

 rately mixed with sand, and clean them off nicely; 

 timber, bushes, leaves and all, without grubbing 

 the bushes. Then lay down some small poles paral- 

 lel with each other about two feet apart, for skids 

 to lay the wood on, so that it can be moved easily. 

 Lay down your wood in a pile, across the patch, 

 sutficiently large to make a strong fire, which 

 should be made to burn well, about one hour, be- 

 fore it is moved ; then with long wooden hooks, (or 

 what I have found better,) iron hooks, fastened on 

 long handles of wood, let the hands place them- 

 selves in a row, in front of the fire and draw the 

 wood forward so as to burn the adjacent ground, 

 covering about four feet, and so on, until the whole 

 patch is burnt. As soon as the ground is suffi- 

 ciently cool, take two horses, with a sharp coulter, 

 and plough it deep and close both ways, then pick 

 off all the roots and rake it over, until the surface 

 is smooth and level, when it will be ready to sow. 

 Having mixed your seed thoroughly with ashes, 

 plaster of Paris, or nice fine sand, sow it over care- 

 fully twice ; putting on about four table spoonfuls 

 of seed, to every hundred square yards. Then 

 tread it down close, and smooth all over and cover 

 it thick with straight brush, with the tails of the 

 brush to the sun at twelve o'clock, so that the sun 

 may shine on every part of the patch at its great- 

 est heat. Dig a trench around it if necessary, to 

 keep off the water in hard rains, and your patch 

 will be complete. I prefer coultering to the com- 

 mon method of hoeing, as less of the soil is turned 

 under, and it is broken much deeper, and thus is 

 better prepared to resist drought, or excessive 

 wet, as the water sinks below the roots of the 

 plants and is retained longer, though not suffi- 

 ciently near to drown. If your plants come up 

 well, you may calculate on a thousand, from every 

 square yard. As soon as the danger from frosts 

 is over, the brush should be thrown off, and the 

 plants manured from time to time with the finest 

 and strongest manure from the stables, until they 

 are large enough to set out, which should be, from 

 the 10th of May to the 20th of June. Standing 

 patches sometimes succeed well in particular situa- 

 tions, for a number of years, though very rarely, 

 the plants being always later, and much more lia- 

 ble to be destroyed by the fly. Since we have cut 

 down all our best lands, in this section of country, 

 it has become a matter of considerable difficulty 

 to raise plants in time : and that difficulty is aug- 

 mented ten fold, by the ravages of the fly, which 

 attacks them sometimes in swarms — principally 

 during the month of April, while they are small, 

 and frequently, if they are not checked, will de- 

 stroy a patch in a few days. Various expedients, 

 have been adopted, and many remedies tried, 

 generally without success. I have, however, 

 found leached ashes, an effectual check to them, 

 when they are sprinkled over the plants until they 

 are completely covered with them : they also serve 

 as a valuable manure. This remedy should be 

 repeated frequently, as the ashes are liable to be 

 settled down by the dew, and washed off by the 

 rains. The ashes should be well leached, and en- 

 tirely dry, or else they will scald the plants, and 

 not answer the purpose designed. Land should 

 only be burnt hard enough to kill all grass seed, 



