HOW TO RAISE TOBACCO. 



explain tbe mode of inspecting tobacco in the bogs- 

 head. An inspector is appointed by law to inspect or 

 examine the tobacco prized in hogsheads. His first 

 step is, to place the hogshead big end upward. He 

 then removes the lining, and takes out the head. He 

 next inverts the position of the hogshead, that is, puts 

 the little end up, and raises it entirely from the to- 

 bacco. The mass of prized tobacco stands before 

 him without a covering. The outside may be all 

 right, but his sworn duty is to examine it through and 

 through, as well as round and round. Tor this pur- 

 pose he drives an iron bar to the middle, near the top 

 of the mass, pries up and takes out a handful of bun- 

 dles. He repeats that operation on two other points 

 of the mass. He then inspects or examines the par- 

 cels extracted, and rates the whole hogshead according 

 to their quality. The hogshead is replaced and made 

 secure. The hogsheads and the samples taken from 

 them bear corresponding marks, and the former is 

 sold by the latter. 



The staves of the hogshead must not be wider than 

 five, nor narrower than three inches, five eighths of 

 an inch thick, and dressed on the inside. The head- 

 ing must be seasoned pine or poplar, and one inch 

 thick, with eight hoops. Such a hogshead will well 

 answer in other States as well as in Virginia. 



Prizing. — Weigh out, say three hundred pounds. 



It takes two hands to do this work, one inside the 

 hogshead and the other out. One is called the packer, 

 the other the waiter. The packer so arranges the 

 bundles, in placing them, as to make four courses in 

 one layer. Kcpeat the layers until the three hundred 

 pounds are packed. The weight (lever-power) is then 

 applied. After six hours, put in two hundred pounds 

 more and apply the weight. Six hours, and so on, 

 until one thousand three hundred or one thousand five 

 hundred pounds have been put in. The softer the 

 tobacco, the more of it can be put in a hogshead. 



If the tobacco is of the first quality, fifteen hundred 

 pounds is enough. But if lower qualities, eighteek 

 hundred pounds can be put in. The finer the quality 

 the less weight it can bear without injury ; and vice 

 versa. Saving prized the crop, it is ready for market. 



I think tobacco is decidedly the most profitable crop 

 raised in the Western and Northern States. For in- 

 stance, an acre of suitable land, planted in time, with 

 good plants, and promptly attended in its subsequent 

 management, will yield a thousand pounds, which, at 

 $4 per hundred, would be $40; at $10 per hundred 

 $100. The article is now selling by the hogshead in 

 Louisville, Ky., at more than $30 per hundred. When 

 the tobacco market opens in May, I have no doubt it 

 will be much higher. Its cultivation is extending 

 most rapidly in Ohio. 



Ko. VII-BY J. H. NORTON, ONONDAGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



The grand requisites for the successful cultivation 

 of tobacco may be summed up as follows : first, good 

 arable land, plenty of fertilizing materials, buildings 

 for curing and storing the crop, and a good share of 

 patience and assiduity in the grower. 



Seed-Bed. — A rich loam is the best soil for to- 

 bacco-plants ; select a spot for a bed on the south 

 Bide of a gentle elevation — a warm spot — as much 

 sheltered from the winds as possible ; make the bed 

 mellow by spading deep, burn a brush-heap upon it, 

 and carefully remove every sod, root, stick, or stone, 

 then rake evenly and carefully. Mix one gill of seed 

 for every ten square yards with a quart or so of clean 

 ashes or plaster, then sow as gardeners sow small 

 seeds, and tramp, where sown, with the feet, or roll 

 ■ith a roller. 'The bed should be made rich with 

 manure, and sown as early in the spring as the ground 

 can be worked. The ground, however, must be in 

 good condition — not too moist, and be well prepared. 



Keep the weeds from growing by careful weeding, 



"ally, after the plants are up ; a little liquid manure 



then applied once a week will be of much benefit to 



.them, increasing their growth and vigor very much. 



Thr olants should not stand too thick in the bed, 



" ' 3 than an inch, to half an inch apart ; if they 

 are too thick they should be raked with an iron 



rake after the plants are about the bigness of a five- 

 cent piece. The rake suitable for such a purpose 

 should be a common rake, with teeth about three 

 inches long, slightly curved at the points, teeth flat, 

 and about a quarter or three eighths of an inch wide, 

 and half an inch apart. 



Good, strong corn-land is the soil best adapted for 

 tobacco-growing — not flat, but undulating. New land 

 is preferable to old. The land should be veiy richly 

 manured with good, strong, well-rotted manure — ashes 

 also used will benefit the crop materially. 



The ground should be well plowed and pulverized 

 fine by well harrowing or cultivating, and then be 

 marked as for corn in rows from three to three and a 

 half feet apart each way. At each angle formed by 

 the markings a sort of hill should be formed and 

 patted with the hoe once, so as to form a bed for the 

 plant which is to be set. 



After the ground is thus prepared, after the first 

 fine rain, the plants (the leaves of which should be 

 about the size of a quarter of a dollar) should be 

 removed from the bed, taking great care not to mash 

 or bruise them while taking them up. 



Setting Out. — Proceed to planting, which is done 

 in the following manner: a boy with a basket of 

 plants first goes over tne ground, dropping a plant 



