EXPERIENCE OF PRACTICAL GROWERS. 



47 



above tLe f gt , it is the red or brown tobacco ; this 

 hould also be tied in separate bundles. 



The best, or manufacturing, is the finest aii-i Bright- 

 est leaves, and should be put in bundles by itself. 



In stripping, the stems of the leaves should be 

 Drokn off as close as possible to the stalk ; this adds 

 to the weight of the tobacco. 



In forming a bundle, the buts of the leaves should 

 'te placed evenly, and closely together, and pressed 

 lightly in the hand ; then a leaf should be folded to 

 form a wrapper two inches in width ; then wrap it 

 tightly and smoothly around the buts of the leaves, 

 winding it from the end down, about two inches and a 

 half; then open the bundle in the middle, and tuck 

 the wrapper-leaf through the opening, and draw it 

 Bnug, so that when the opening is closed the wrapper- 

 leaf will remain ; this forms a bundle which we call a 

 " hand of tobacco." 



The hands should be strung on sticks, and hoisted 

 up in the barn on the tier-poles ; eighteen or twenty 

 hands may be put on each stick, at equal distances 

 apart. 



BULKING AND PACKING. Let the tobacco hang in 

 the bam until within a week or two of hogsheading, 

 take it down, remove it from the sticks, and put it in 

 a bulk. This is done by making a platform, and cov- 

 ering it with straw or hay ; then lay the hands of to- 

 bacco, side by Bide, in layers around, with the buts 

 outward , in the same manner as wheat or oats are 

 stacked. 



If the atmosphere is dry, the bulk should be cov- 

 ered up closely, so that the tobacco will retain its 

 moisture. It should not be too damp, for there is 

 danger of its molding in the bulk. 



If it should mold, hang it up again in the barn, and 

 put fire under it. The mold that it gets in the bulk 

 la generally the yellow mold, which is the most fatal. 



It sometimes gets a white m jld on it, while hanging in 

 the barn, when the atmosphere is very damp and 

 warm ; but this does not materially injure it, for it 

 will rub off while drawing the tobacco through the 

 hands. It should be drawn through the hands every 

 time it is handled, to keep it straight, and to give it a 

 silky texture, which adds to its price. 



We generally send tobacco to market in hogsheads, 

 and sometimes in boxes. A hogshead four feet in 

 length, and three feet in diameter, is the medium size. 

 One thousand pounds is considered a full hogshead 

 but one of the above dimensions can hold one thou 

 sand five hundred pounds, by hard pressing ; but this 

 slackens the tobacco, and injures the sale of it. Pack- 

 ing in the hogshead is done by first laying a course or 

 layer of bundles straight across the bottom, keeping 

 the buts even and close together ; then fill up on each 

 side of the center course, placing the buts against the 

 staves ; then the buts of the hands that lie against the 

 hogshead should be covered up with two or three 

 others, pressed closely down. The next center course 

 should be laid across the first, and done in the same 

 manner as before, and so on, crossing each course in 

 succession, until the hogshead is two thirds full ; when 

 the press should be applied till the .tobacco is pressed 

 down to within a foot and a half of the bottom of tin 

 hogshead. 



The press should remain on an hour or more, in 

 order that the tobacco may settle together ; then the 

 press should be raised, and the packing resumed as 

 before, till the tobacco is within a foot and a half of 

 the top ; then the press should again be applied till 

 the tobacco is pressed half way down the hogshead 

 the same proportion should be observed until the 

 hogshead is full. Then put the head in, and it it 

 ready for market. 



No. XIII.-BY JOSEPH H. DAVIS, NEWARK, N. J. 



[THE following is extracted from a very elaborate 

 essay, but as its matter was from observation only, it 

 could not compete for a prize.] 



A beginner would ask what "kind of soil" is best 

 adapted to the growth of tobacco ? and I should an- 

 Bwer that "kind of soil" which is best adapted to 

 the growth of corn, potatoes, and red clover. 



To raise either of theae, the soil must be rich, deep, 

 warm, and well-tilled; free from weeds, and neither 

 wet nor dry. When one wishes to raise a good crop 

 of tobacco, on soil destitute of any one of these qual- 

 ities, he should supply the deficiency in some artificial 

 way. Deep working is not to be omitted on any ac- 

 count. A lot of land with a southern inclination, 

 he] tered by hills c r woods from high and cold winds, 

 would produce be.ter tobacco than another lot desti- 

 tute of such protection, for the reason that cold winds 



check the growth, and high winds break the tender 

 leaves badly, and thus depreciate their value. Deep- 

 worked soil drains better, stands a drouth and takes 

 in the air and sun's rays better, and is every way 

 more suitable to tobacco than shallow-worked and wet 

 soil. 



It is an established fact that tobacco draws largely 

 on the soil for its growth, and it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to have a deep and finely- worked rich soil, if the 

 grower wishes large profits on his outlay. 



I will here add that I have never seen soil so rich 

 that a little manure would not benefit it, and I have 

 seen tobacco growing on land naturally so rich as to 

 yield forty to sixty bushels of oats, or from fifty to 

 eighty bushels of corn, to the acre, one or the other 

 of these crops having been grown on the ot every 

 year foi forty-two years, without a particle of manure 



