462 TOBACCO PRODUCTION 



soil. It is not the most exhaustive crop, but is above the average. 

 Where tobacco land is allowed to lie bare in winter the loss by 

 leaching is likely to be greater than by the removal of plant food in 

 the crop. 



Fertilizers for Special Results. The methods of fertilizing 

 tobacco vary greatly with sections. A very considerable part of 

 this difference is due to peculiar soil requirements, while more is due 

 to special results required in the types. For some kinds of heavy 

 tobacco the best grades are grown on the richest soils of the sections,, 

 as for instance the white Burley. In other grades, such as the lighter 

 flue-cured tobacco of Virginia and the Carolinas, the best grades 

 are produced on the lighter soils not too rich in vegetable matter. 

 What is true of soils is also true of fertilizers. There is danger of 

 using too high a percentage of nitrogen where a light, fine-textured 

 tobacco is grown, while this element can be used very liberally in 

 producing the heavy tobaccos adapted to the highly fertile soils. 



Fertilizers for the Various Tobacco Regions. In growing 

 the Connecticut Havana seed tobacco on the typical sandy soil low 

 in vegetable matter and under very expensive cultural methods, it 

 is necessary to supply the soil abundantly with plant food. In the 

 fall from ten to twenty tons of good stable manure should be 

 plowed into, the land, and in the spring it should be plowed again 

 and the fertilizer applied broadcast. A ton per acre of a mixture 

 containing about five per cent of nitrogen, five per cent of phosphoric 

 acid and six per cent of potash is used. If the manure is not used 

 the nitrogen content may be six per cent. The same fertilization is 

 suitable for the Connecticut broad-leaf, but a somewhat heavier 

 application can be made. 



In Wisconsin, where the Comstock Spanish is grown for binder 

 leaf, fertilizing with commercial fertilizer has not been so well 

 worked out. Stable manure is used with good profit. 



In the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, district, where the broad-leaf is 

 grown as a filler, good rotation is practised and barnyard manure is 

 used liberally, but the use of commercial fertilizer is not universally 

 adopted and formulas are not very definitely worked out. 



Commercial fertilizer pays well in the Miami Valley of Ohio, 



