BXPEREEKCE OF PEACTICAL GROWERS. 



9 



wood, and heavy logs, sufficient to keep up a strong 

 fire for at least one hour, and burn it. When the 

 coals begin to die out, or before the soil is cold, the 

 bed is cleared off, and only the fine ashes ai'e left, 

 then it is hoed thoroughly and as deep as the strong- 

 est heat has penetrated, after which it is raked cross 

 and lengthwise, until the soil is entirely pulverized. 

 Every thing that might hinder the growing of the 

 plants, and their taking out afterwards, is carefully 

 removed. On this bed a thimbleful of seed, well 

 mixed with a few handfuls of ashes or earth, is sown 

 broadcast, and tramped in with the feet, or slapped 

 with the under side of the spade or any other suitable 

 instrument. After this, the bed is thoroughly wetted 

 with a weak manure-water, twelve pounds of hen- 

 droppings, or one pound of soot in ten gallons of 

 water, and lightly covered with straw. The seed- 

 bed does not need much attention at first, if the 

 weather remains mild ; but if there is danger of night- 

 frosts, a layer of brush must be made, and on this a 

 layer of straw two to four inches thick, according to 

 the degree of frost. The straw is removed in the 

 morning, and put on again at evening, leaving it off 

 entirely, when the nights are mild. Although the 

 seed-bed is ready now, it must not be left to itself, 

 and requires some care. The plants must always have 

 sufficient moisture, and if timely rains do not fall, 

 they mu.'5t be watered with weak liquid manure as 

 often as needed. Should weeds appear, notwithstand- 

 ing all precautions, they must be removed with the 

 utmost care. The above-mentioned quantity of seed 

 is sufficient to raise plants for one acre. 



Whoever is in possession of a hot-bed can raise 

 the plants much easier ; he can sow later and have 

 plants earlier and with more certainty. But even the 

 common bed may be made into a kind of hot-bed. 

 The burned and hoed surface-soil is removed and put 

 on one side, then one foot of fresh horse-dung is laid 

 on the subsoil, and the surface-soil put back again. 

 Boards may be placed around, cross-pieces laid over 

 them, and the sti'aw covering put on these. 



The earlier the youvg plants are ready for trans- 

 planting the siorer the tobacco crop will be. March is 

 the latest to make the seed-bed in the open air, and 

 June the latest for transplanting. Some time may be 

 gained by keeping the seed in damp earth in the 

 room, and sow it in the seed-bed just before it com- 

 mences to sprout. 



For seed I recommend the following varieties ; 

 1. Connecticut seed-leaf, principally for scgar-wrap- 

 pers ; 2. Cuba, for fillers and wrappers ; 3. Maryland ; 

 4. Virginia, the last two principally for smoking and 

 chewing tobacco. For snuff every thing may be 

 used, the refuse and even the stems. The Connecti- 

 cut, Maryland, and Virginia yield the largest crops, the 

 Cuba the smallest but best. The first varieties yield 

 about one thousand pounds, the latter five hundred 

 pounds. In very favorable seasons double the amount 



may be raised. All tobacco-seed, which is removed 

 from its native clime and soil, will deteriorate, and 

 the seed must be renewed from its native place, al- 

 though the seed may, when it finds favorable soil, 

 etc., yield just as good, if not a better variety. 



To raise seed, leave the best and strongest plants for 

 this purpose. The suckers only are removed, and 

 the leaves left on the plant, until the seed is ripe. 



2. The Soil and its Preparation. — In a suitable 

 climate tobacco may be raised in every good culti- 

 vated soil. But what is " suitable climate" ? Which 

 are the northern and southern boundaries of its cul- 

 ture ? We consider only the practical side of the 

 question, and answer. Tobacco can be raised as far 

 North as corn, and as far South aa the sugar-cane. 

 Wherever corn matures fully, tobacco will also ma- 

 ture, if properly cultivated. For us in the West, and 

 for all the localities that have not an over-amount of 

 heat, experience has proved, that a dry, warm soil, 

 {loam or sandy loam,) rich, deep, and containing lime, 

 is most suitable for tobacco. The more sandy, to a 

 certain degree, the soil is, the better will be the qual- 

 ity of the tobacco ; the nearer the soil is to clay, the 

 poorer will be the crop under similar circumstances, 

 although the yield may yet be. satisfactory. Clayey 

 soil will hardly produce tobacco suitable for segars. 

 Wet and tough clay soils are under no circumstancea 

 suitable to tobacco. 



Tobacco lands require also : 1st. Protection against 

 winds. Where this is not done by nature, it may 

 bo artificially done by planting several rows of pole- 

 beans a few steps apart. 2d. There must be no stand- 

 ing water. This is best prevented by deep plowing, 

 by which the water will sink into the soil, where it 

 belongs. 



The land must be plowed deep, eight to twelve 

 inches, and harrowed thoroughly until it is as fine as 

 good garden soil. This is best done by plowing in 

 the fall, exposing the hard and rough furrows to the 

 frost ; after the soil is dry in spring, it should be har- 

 rowed thoroughly, and then plowed and harrowed 

 again for a second, and if necessary, for a third time, 

 and rolled before planting. The different plowings, etc., 

 should of course be done at intervals long enough to 

 allow the land to settle. This is the treatment of soil 

 that has been cultivated with the plow before tobacco 

 is grown on it. It is somewhat different with newly 

 turned (virgin) soil, or a clover-field, or a meadow, 

 which the tobacco particularly likes. Deep and thor- 

 ough working is the rule here also, but it is done in 

 somewhat different way. In the virgin soil, all the 

 roots must be picked up, because they would make the 

 soil too loose for the secure insertion of the plant, 

 and then they would hinder the cultivation with 

 the hoe and tlie j^low to a great degree. Meadows 

 and clover-fields are broken up about three weeks be- 

 fore planting, eight to ten inches deep, taking care 

 that the furrow is entirely turned, so that the grass is 



