PREFACE. 



Tobacco growing is one of the most profitable branches of 

 tropical and sub-tropical agriculture; the "weed" has 

 even been proposed as a remunerative crop for the British 

 farmer, and is very extensively grown in continental 

 Europe. The attention recently drawn to the subject 

 has resulted in many inquiries for information useful to 

 the planter desirous of starting a tobacco estate. But 

 beyond scattered articles in newspapers and the pro- 

 ceedings of agricultural societies, there has been no 

 practical literature available for the English reader. It 

 is a little remarkable that while our neighbours have 

 been writing extensively about tobacco growing, of late 

 years, no English book devoted exclusively to this subject 

 has been published for nearly thirty years. • A glance at 

 the bibliography given at the end of this volume will 

 show that the French, German, Swiss, Italian, Dutch, 

 Sicilian, and even Scandinavian planter has a reliable 

 handbook to guide him in this important branch of agri- 

 culture, while British settlers in our numerous tobacco- 

 growing colonies must glean their information as best 

 they may from periodical literature. 



To supply the want thus indicated, the present volume 



