CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 2Q3 



The tobacco plant requires a rich light soil, and its cultiva- 

 tion is attended with considerable labour of detail. The seeds, 

 which are very minute, are generally sown in a sheltered place, 

 covered during the night to defend them from frosts, and in 

 the end of May, or beginning of June, transplanted to the 

 fields, and set in rows at a sufficient distance from one another. 

 The after culture consists in keeping the ground free of weeds, 

 removing insects and injured leaves, and picking off the sum- 

 mits and buds, to prevent the flowering of the plant, and to direct 

 the nourishment to the leaves. When the leaves are ready, the 

 stems are cut over, the plants hung up and dried, and then put 

 into heaps for the purpose of undergoing a certain degree offer- 

 mentation. They are again hung up, the leaves being sepa- 

 rated from the stems, and made to undergo a second fermenta- 

 tion, under a certain degree of pressure. The leaves are again 

 dried and tied together in bundles. They are then packed 

 and compressed in casks for sale or exportation, which com- 

 pletes the task of the grower. 



Culture of the Tobacco. The following dissertation on the 

 method of raising tobacco, was, by request, laid before the Ken- 

 tucky State Agricultural Society, by JOHN JOHNSON, Esq., who, 

 it is said, is a very successful and experienced cultivator. He 

 says: 



Tobacco has been for several years an article of profit to the grower, and 

 perhaps as much so to the farmers of our state as any other; and from the pecu- 

 liarity of our soil, is likely to be a production of Kentucky much longer than 

 many of the less fertile eastern states. As tobacco is a crop that requires more 

 experience than almost any other, I will commence with the first step in the 

 crop, viz: PLANTS. Plants should be sown in February or March, upon a light 

 or mellow natural soil, care being taken not to sow them too thick. The bed 

 on which they are sown should be burned sufficiently to destroy all indigenous 

 herbage. The grounds upon which the tobacco crop is to be raised, should 

 be prepared first, by coultering and ploughing, if newly cleared, or by plough- 

 ing only, if clear of roots; secondly, by bedding or throwing three or four fur- 

 rows (according to the size of the plough) together, and hilling. The hills 

 should be about three inches above the surface, and about three and a half feet 

 distant from each other, or if the land produces luxuriantly, mow in order to 

 give room to pass along the rows without breaking the tobacco. 



It is not essential as many suppose, to make land very loose for tobacco. 

 Breaking the land one and a half or two inches deep, is sufficient, care being 

 taken to make the hills loose where the plants are to be placed when trans- 

 planted. Roots in new land are no great obstacle, as it is not essential to use 

 the plough the first year, three workings with the hoe being sufficient. Old 

 land should be stirred oftener, as it is much more disposed to bake or become 

 hard. The culture of tobacco is trifling compared with the other part of the 

 process of rendering it marketable. After the hills have been made as before 

 described and planted, the first work should be done with hoes, by scraping the 

 earth and herbage, then springing up, into the middle of the row, forming a 

 ridge somewhat like that formed by running two furrows in a corn row with 

 the bar of the plough next the corn. If the indigenous growth be of such a 

 nature as not to be easily destroyed, it is advisable, after using the hoe, to run 

 two furrows with a plough skirting the hills and lapping the earth from the 

 mole of the plough in the middle of the rows, covering the ridge made by the 

 scraping with the hoe. After this, the middle of the rows should be ploughed 



