12 TOBACCO. 



inert potash salts. From tlie foregoing, it may be con- 

 cluded that in tobacco cultivation, the elements potassium 

 and calcium should be restored to the soil in the form of 

 carbonate, sulphate, or nitrate, but not as chlorides. 

 Poudrette, or prepared night-soil, generally contains a 

 considerable amount of chlorides, and is not well suited as 

 manure for fine tobacco. It has been found that fields 

 manured with chlorides produced heavily ; a small propor- 

 tion of chlorides may therefore be applied in this form, 

 whenever quality is of less importance than quantity. 

 Farmyard manure may suffice when tobacco is cultivated 

 in proper rotation, but here also, unless the soil be very 

 rich in potassium and calcium, the application of some 

 special manure will greatly enhance the value of the 

 outturn. Wood-ashes are a valuable supplement to stable 

 dung. Gypsum is an excellent dressing for soils in a 

 good manurial condition : it supplies the lime needed by 

 the tobacco, and acts as a solvent on the inert potash salts. 

 Gypsum aj) plied on poor land, however, hastens the 

 exhaustion of the soil. It is said that crops manured 

 with gypsum suffer less from the effects of drought, and 

 require less irrigation, than when manured otherwise : 

 the leaves of plants that had been manured with gypsum 

 exhaling less water than when manured with other sub- 

 stances. If this assertion be correct, gypsum would be 

 invaluable to the Indian cultivator. 



With regard to the amount of manure to be employed, 

 it may be observed that, with farmyard manure properly 

 rotted, there is no theoretical limit, especially when the 

 tobacco is intended for snufi^, and is grown in a hot climate, 

 where the physical properties of the soil are of the utmost 



