1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



19 



from those agents who travel llimu^'l] tlie 

 country. Ciet tlicni in the nci'^iiliorinu iiur- I 

 series, and tlie .sooner you ]>\.u\i ili'Hi ultrr i 

 they are out of the nursery llie l.iii.i. Make | 

 up your order now and send it In lli'' iiuisiiy j 

 where you want to ■,'(■! vnur trees. If you ■ 

 delay tlieni until you think you just want | 

 them you may, inirhaps. not ■ret wliat you ; 

 want. TIic best may be pieked out and y..u 

 will have to supply yourself out of thosi- thai 

 are left. Select a place for your orchard iliai 

 has a nothern slope if you pipssitilv can uiaki' 

 it suit. It is the hest plaee. fui- llie l,nl >un is 

 not so hard on the tre.s, an. I it will n.d dry 

 out as soon as a so\ilheni slo]ie, and the trees 

 will not start so early in tlie si)ring, nor arc 

 they so apt to be caught by late frosts. Let 

 the most of your planting be late winter 

 apples ; \vc plant too many summer and fall 

 apples. Subsoiling before "planting I consider 

 very beneficial. The work is not lost. You 

 need nothing but a shovel to dig the holes. 

 Then loosen the soil about eighteen inches 

 deep. 



TOBACCO— ITS CULTURE— ITS USE 

 AND ITS EFFECTS AS A NARCOTIC* 



Of all the vegetable sulistanccs trafliced in 

 as a business, and indulged in as a narcotic — 

 such, for instanee, as oiiiuni, lii-nip, hops, 

 betel, lettuce, fungus, holly. Icdauuni,! thorn 

 apple, and clay and arsenic eating— there is 

 more used or'dealt in to the same extent as 

 tobacco. ''Johnson on Narcotics," in sum- 

 ming up his estimates of these substances, 

 used for the year \i^W. sets tliein down as fol- 

 lows : Tobacco, sdd.iinii.diMi ; o|iiuin. H«t.- 

 000,000; hemp, :i(ii), 111111,11110 ; li.'iel, iniuioii,- 

 000; coca,I 1(1,000.11(10; ami thousan.ls use 

 lettuce, clay, arsenic, fungus, ledanum, 

 thorne apple, &c. These are used in dillerent 

 ways— smoked, chewed or simffod — by a great 

 number of people. Tobacco is believed te be 

 a native of Tropical America; at all events, 

 it was cultivated and used tliere by the in- 

 habitants of some parts of that continent be- 

 fore its discovery by the Europeans in 149-2. 

 (.'olunibus found the chiefs on the Island of 

 Cuba smoking cigars, and Cortes met with it 

 afterwards. It grows best within the thirty- 

 fifth degrees of latitude ou either side of the 

 equator. The finest qualities arc raised be- 

 tween the fourteenth and fifteenth degrees of 

 north latitude— the I'hilipine Islands— and 

 between tlic thirty-fourth and thirty-liflh de- 

 grees — in Latakia, Syria. In America to- 

 bacco is met with almost everywhere, and the 

 consumption is simply enormous. Doctor 

 Johnson rather deprecatingly remarks that 

 the custom of using tobacco is " loathsome to 

 the eye, hateful to the nose, hurtful to the 

 brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the 

 black, stinking fumes thereof, nearest resem- 

 bles the horrible .stygian smoke, of the pit 

 that is bottomless." ' AVhen it was first intro- 

 duced among the English, in vain did King 

 llaraes oppose it by his counterblasts against 

 tobacco. In Europe, from the plains of Sur- 

 ey Castle to the frozen Archangel, and from 

 he Ural to the Icelands, the pipe, the cigar 

 ind the snuff-box area conniion solace among 

 ill ranks and conditions of the people. So, 

 ilso, in vain did the Sultans and priests of 

 Turkey and Persia declare smoking a sin 

 igainst their holy religion. 

 The Turks, nevertheless, became the great- 

 st smokers in the world. This nation, iu- 

 luding the Siamese, th.e Burmese, and the 

 ndias in general, are all inveterate smokers, 

 eluding both .sexes of all ranks, even dow-u 

 the children. In China the i)ractiee is .so 

 niversal that every female, from the age of 

 ight or nine years, has an appendage to her 

 ress to hold a pipe. Lobacco was introduced 

 om America into Spain by the Spaniards, 



Read before the Tobacco Orowois' Asflociation, by Peter 

 Keiet. 



XxDANUM or Ladanum, a roeinoiiB iuspissated juice 

 om a shrub called Leda or Lada, (Ci»(uk ladaniftrtm) and 

 her plants of the same geuuft, growing ou the Me,diterra- 

 ■ ind elsewhere. C'liieflv used as .1 stimulant, 

 of opicv is also called Ladttmim M Laudanum. 

 JCOOA, the dried leaf of the Enthrnxiilr.n rooa, a highly 

 mulating narcotic, found growing ■KiXi in Peru. 



1 n( 



t 



lit ,„ 



in l.'iOli, and into France by Xicote. In I.'jSCi 

 it was iiiti-oilueed into lOii^laiid bv Sir Francis 

 Drake, under the auspices ..f Sir AValter 

 Haleiixh ; and into Tui-key about ICOl. Since 

 then the (aillivation ami use of tobacco has 

 liicn spread over a large portion of the habi- 

 table wiirld. The dillerent jiarts of America 

 in which loli.ieco is grown include Canada, 

 New r.Miii.v, i.k. Mexico, the roiled States, 

 II, e W, .leni ( .ia-1 a- far as -Id degrees south 

 lalilu.le, i:i:,/,il, ( nl.a. Trinidad, and the 

 West India Mauds. U is also cultivated on 

 the coast of the lied Sea, and on the Medi- 

 terranean; in Egyp , Algiers, the canons 

 along the western coast of Africa and the 

 Cape of (iood Hope. In Europe it has been 

 cultivated willi success in almost every coim- 

 tiy, and it tonus at present an important 

 agricultural protluct in Hungary, Germany, 

 Flanders and France. In Asia it has spread 

 over Turkey, Persia, India, Thibet, China, 

 .Japan, and a number of smaller States. 



Dr. .Johnson says it is the most susceptible 

 of cultivation, the most hardy, the most tole- 

 rant of change altitude and general climate 

 of any plant of its class, and may be raised, 

 without dilliculty, from the Equator to the 

 fifty-fourth degree of north or south latitude. 

 And here I desire to add a few words on gen- 

 eral narcotic indulgence. Siberia has its nar- 

 cotic fungus ; Turkey, India and China their 

 oiiinm ; Persia, India and parts Turkey, with 

 all Africa, from Morocco to the Cape of (iood 

 Hope, have their narcotic hemp, including 

 even the Indians of Brazil. Other parts of 

 India, China and Eastern Archipelago have 

 their belid-nut and betel-pepper. The Poly- 

 nesian Islands their daily ava ; Peru and 

 15olivia their long used coca; New Granada 

 and the lliinalayes red and common thorn- 

 apples ; Asia and America and all the world, 

 we may say, their tobacco. Northern Europe 

 and America have their ledanum and sweet 

 gale; the (Jeniians and English their hops, 

 and the I'rem lnnan his lettuce. No nation so 

 ancient init has had it.s narcotic soother, even 

 from the earliest periods of its history. The 

 craving for such indulgences, and the habit 

 of gratifying them, are but little less than the 

 desire for food and the habit of eating ; the.se 

 material substances coming even in competi- 

 tion with common food, the very staff of life. 



Much could be said touching the use of to- 

 bacco —such as smoking, chewing and .snnf- 

 lin.g— and also touching its abuse, its eiTects 

 asa tramiuilizer, and that solace, for which, 

 .Johnson says, lliousands llee to it. It seems 

 sullicient tii say that it is cultivated, tralliced 

 in and widely used ; and Providence appears 

 to smile upon those who encourage as well as 

 those who discourage it. There is one thing 

 that seems certain — its long continued, wide- 

 ly extended and ra\)idly increasing cultiva- 

 tion, trartic and use, t^vince that for some 

 wise purpose it has been jx-rmited, and infer- 

 entially iorthcj)ivrc)i(Joii of some other pos- 

 sible abuses, that would be greater evils. 

 On Tobacco Culture. 



The climate, the mode of culture, the kind 

 of manure applied, the period at which the 

 crop should be gathered and cured, &c., are 

 important factors in connection with the 

 commerce in tobacco. It will grow on almost 

 any soil, and in any climate that will produce 

 corn, but a warm climate seems preferable. 

 On our 000,(100 acres of land devoted to the 

 cultivation of tobacco in the Fnitcd Slates, 

 40(t, (Kill. (10(1 ]iounds are produced, valued at 

 S;:i(l,(Hl(i;oo(i. Keiiluekv raises i:!(l,(l(Hi.()0O; 



Virginia, .-.o. l.noo-, Mi-suiiri, 4:!,(l(l(t,(l(tO ; 



Pcnns_\lvaiiia, al"iul 1 l.ooo.ood; and Connec- 

 ticut. "alMiiii s, Odd. Odd p.iuiids. Mr. Dicker- 

 man says lobacco is a paying crop, but it ex- 

 hausts the soil more rapidly than any other 

 crop, and when land is once exhausted by its 

 cultivation, hardly any process will pay to 

 renovate it again. To prove this we need 

 only refer to the exhausted lands of Virginia 

 and Maryland southward, and many places in 

 the Eastern and AVestem States : but this re- 

 sult cannot be considered unavoidable. 

 Preparing the Ground. 



Plow nnder well rotted barnyard manure 



and lime, or any good compost or phosphate, 

 at any time thtil your land is in such a eomli- 

 tion as to make the soil loo.sc and mellow. 

 Or use bone-dust, or any kind of fine fertili- 

 zer as a toi)-dressing. ITsc understandingly, 

 and with experimcnial knowledge, a certain 

 quantity of hone-ilust or harmless fertilizer to 

 each plant. Bear in mind that to bring your 

 land in a proper condition to grow tobacco, 

 vou eaniiol easily get it loo rich and mellow. 

 The application o( ashes, muck or compost of 

 almost any material that would iiroduce good 

 corn will also produce good lobacco. Have 

 your land ready to plant about the first day 

 of .June. Score it ofi" about three feet and a 

 half apart in ridges crossing each other at 

 right angles. 



Varieties. 



There are, perhap."^, ten din"erent varieties 

 of tobacco, of which every grower must judge 

 for himself, such as the broad-leaved Connec- 

 ticut, the Iluber, the chestnut leaf, &c., de- 

 pending somewhat on the richne.ss of your 

 soil and your location, a.s well as the state of 

 the season. 



Plants. 



One of the first requisites is the prepara- 

 tion of a good and rich .seed bed, which should 

 be attended to as early as the ground will 

 allow its ( tilture. For this [lurpose select the 

 sunny side of a southern slope. Learn to .sow 

 your'seed by experience, and 1 consider it use- 

 less at this late day to give any extended in- 

 structions to any grower, in regard to the 

 cover they require, and their treatment gen- 

 erally. 



Planting. 



Plant about the end of May or the begin- 

 ning of June, as circumstances and the season 

 will permit. Set the plants about twenty- 

 four inches apart in the rows, and as I have 

 before stated, learn to plant by experience ; 

 you will soon learn that in dry weather you 

 will have to adai)t yourself to deeper planting, 

 and to use water if too dry, and that judici- 

 ously ; and in wet wealln"'r that you cannot 

 be too careful so you will not cause a clod or 

 a bake around thi; plant after the coming of 

 a c'ry spell. I>ike in any other occupation, 

 you will succeed best after you have gained 

 experience. 



Cut-Worms. 



Soon after the plant is set the "cut-worm" 

 makes its appearance, which retiuircs watch- 

 ing. Then, after several weeks another and 

 greater enemy ajipears in the "horn-worm." 

 A large, green worm with a conspicuous horn 

 on the back near the hind end, which if left 

 to itself would destroy the wholi.- crop. Many 

 ways haue been reeominended to destroy these 

 worms, or the parents of them, by keeping 

 bright li.-es burning aroiuid the field as a trap; 

 by striking them tlown in the evening with a 

 paddle; or by introducing poison into the 

 rtowers of the "Jim.son weed," on the honey 

 of which they feed ; but the most effective 

 way to keep them from ruining the tobacco 

 jilants is to go over the field often enough to 

 l>ick off all the worms and destroy them. 

 Cultivation. 



The only advice on this point is, as soon as 

 the plants have starteil to grow, go in with 

 the cultii-ator and hoe. Repeat it often enough 

 80 as to keep the soil loose, and all the grass 

 and weeds down until it becomes too large to 

 work with cultivator and hoe. 



Topping and Suckering. 



Topping .should be done as soon .is the 

 reeds appear, leaving from eight to twelve 

 leaves remaining, according to the fertility of 

 the soil or lateness of the season ; and break 

 off all the suckci-s as you go along the rows. 

 Cutting. 



This operation must also be learned by ex- 

 perience. When your leaves become dotted 

 with yellow spots, bcomc glossy and crack by 

 doubling them together, you would better 

 Ix'gin to harvest "immediately, as you will 

 always run a risk of hail storms or frost. Let 

 it wiit on the ground liefore you handle it. 

 After this there are almost as many different 



