Food for Tobacco growing is special farming, and should be care- 



Plants f u iiy studied before starting in as a. tobacco planter. For 

 ? 6 small plantations, the plants are best bought of a regular 

 seedsman. The cultivation is always clean, and an earth 

 mulch from two to three inches in depth should be main- 

 tained that is, the surface soil to that depth kept thoroughly 

 pulverized. 



At the Kentucky Experiment Station experiments were 



made with fertilizers on Burley Tobacco. The land was 



T . "deficient in natural drainage," so that the 



fertilizers could hardly be expected to have 



their full effect. Yet, as will be seen by the following table, 



the profits from the use of the fertilizers were enormous : 



Experiments on Tobacco at the Kentucky 

 Experiment Station. 



Value of 



Yield of tobacco pounds. tobacco 



Fertilizer per acre. Bright. Red. Lugs. Tips. Trash. Total, per acre. 



1 . No manure 200 360 60 540 1 1 60 $67.20 



2. 1 60 Ibs. Nitrate of Soda. ... 230 450 310 90 530 1610 138.40 



3. 1 60 Ibs. sulp. of potash; 1 60 



Ibs. Nitrate of Soda 190 755 605 120 140 1810 190.45 



4. 320 Ibs. superphosphate; 160 



Ibs. sulp. of potash; 160 



Ibs. Nitrate of Soda 310 8 10 420 10 360 2000 201.20 



The tobacco was assorted by an expert and the prices 

 given as follows: Bright and red, fifteen cents per pound; 

 lugs, six cents per pound; tips, eight cents per pound; 

 trash, two cents per pound. 



One hundred and sixty pounds Nitrate of Soda, 

 costing about $3.75, increased the value of the 

 crop $7 1. 20 per acre ! 



We recommend for tobacco a mixture 

 of 200 pounds Nitrate of Soda, 300 pounds 

 superphosphate, and 200 pounds sulphate 

 of potash per acre. This mixture would cost 

 about $28.00 per ton and would contain 

 over 6 per cent, of Nitrogen. This is nearly 

 twice as much Nitrogen as would be ob- 

 tained in a "complete fertilizer" or "special 

 tobacco manure," costing $35.00 per ton. 



