88 



HOW TO EAISE TOBACCO. 



curing by artificial heat, watching that it don't become 

 " funked," or molded, while curing ; but the best 

 plan for a beginner is to dry it safely, and make a 

 sure crop, experimenting as he goes along, in order to 

 improve the quality, as he may safely do so. When 

 the stalk becomes dry and entirely cured, which will 

 not usually be for some weeks, the crop is ready to 

 "strip." The hanging tobacco yields to the influence 

 of a rainy day or a foggy morning, and " comes in case," 

 or softens, so it will not crumble. It must never be 

 bandied when dry. When it is just soft, not damp, 

 or when it is barely so soft that it can be handled, (if 

 it is approaching that softened state,) it may be taken 

 down and taken off the sticks, and " bulked," by pil- 

 ing it alongside a partition, or by itself, with the buts 

 of the stalks outward in every direction, and the tops 

 or leaves in the center. Several hundred pounds may 

 be thus bulked down, and can be worked up while tlie 

 hanging tobacco has gone out of case, and can not be 

 touclied. 



" Stripping " is performed by holding the plant, top 

 down, with the left hand, while with the right hand 

 the leaves are pulled off, taking care to have the stems 

 all even in the hand, so that the ends are together. 

 When ten to fifteen leaves have thus been grasped by 

 the right liand, change the handful to the left hand, 

 and with the right, select a leaf and wrap it around 

 the stems at the end, so as to bind them altogether 

 and cover up the ends, then split the other leaves 

 apart with the finger, and pull the end of your wrap- 

 ping-leaf through, and you have a " hand " of tobacco. 

 A small "hand" of leaves, uniform in size and color, 



will be found the most desirable shape to tie it in. 

 The bottom leaves of the plant, and all torn and 

 defective leaves, should be 

 tied up by themselves, 

 and are known as "lugs." 

 These " hands " should 

 be " bulked " again, with 

 the wrapped end out, and 

 covered with straw, or any 

 thing that will retain the 

 "case," and if subject to 

 immediate sale, may be 

 boxed up or hauled to 

 market. If boxed, it 

 should be put in tight 

 boxes — if hauled, it should 

 bo kept covered until un- 

 loaded. Care must be 

 taken to avoid " high 

 case" — extreme dampness 

 or softness in bulking to- 

 bacco after it is stripped — 

 as it may be " funked " in 

 bulk, and ruined ; and it 

 should not be packed in that 

 condition when it is liable to remain long. It is a crop 

 that is never off of hands. The writer on one occasion 

 sent a last load to market,and next day made a plant-bed. 

 The present high price of the article, and the fact 

 that boys and men not able-bodied may be profitably 

 employed, will doubtless attract the attention of farm- 

 ers, and an enhanced production be the result. 



Hand cf Tobacco. 



No. XI.-BY A. C. LIBHAST, LA^CASTEB, COUHTY, PA. 



Soil and Situation. — If it is intended to raise a 

 crop of tobacco, a primary and very important consid- 

 eration is the situation and quality of the soil. The 

 best situation can not always be chosen with accuracy, 

 as much depends upon the season ; if it be dry, a 

 meadow or other low piece of ground is preferable to 

 a more elevated tract; and if, on the contrary, it 

 should prove to be a wet one, then the cultivator runs 

 a great risk of losing his whole crop by mildew, frost, 

 or inundation by heavy rains. The safest and surest 

 is a moderately elevated situation, which may be either 

 level or gently rolling ; hill-sides or steep declivities 

 being objectionable on account of the liability of the 

 plants being washed out by heavy rains. The soil 

 best suited to growing heavy tobacco is a deep sandy 

 loam, made as rich as possible with barn-yard manure 

 .and thoroughly plowed and worked. Any soil that 

 will hold water long about the roots of the plant will 

 not do for tobacco, as in such situations it becomes at- 

 tacked with a disease vulgarly called "fox-tail," in 

 which the new leaves, as they appear from the heart 



of the plant, are of a sickly, transparent, yellow color, 

 spotted with greenish specks, and shriveled and curl- 

 ed up, not half as long nor wide as they should be, 

 and if the plant is not divested of the diseased por- 

 tions, finally culminating in a mass of worthless vege- 

 tation. A stiff clay soil should be avoided as being too 

 liable to bake and become hard, thereby checking the 

 progress of the minute fibrous roots of the plant. If 

 the land be in sod, it should be plowed in the fall, and 

 even if i1^ be open, it will be benefited thereby, as the 

 frost will destroy a great many of the larvo3 of the cut- 

 worms, which are a great nuisance among the young 

 plants when just set out. 



Seed-Bed. — In the preparation of the plant-beds and 

 sowing of the seed great care is required, as a good 

 crop of tobacco depends greatly upon a good and 

 abundant stock of plants. Select a situation free from 

 the blasts of the north winds and which receives as 

 much sunshine during the day as possible. Then ma- 

 nure strongly with well-rotted compost, hen-manure, 

 ashes or other good fertilizer, and spade to the depth 



