36 TOBACCO CULTURE. 



The sources from which the different forms of plant 

 bod are obtained is of importance as affecting results. 

 /uriate of Potash and Kainit, on account of the chlorine 

 they contain, will affect trie quality of tobacco leaf unfavor- 

 ably. High grade Sulphate of Potash should therefore be 

 used as a source of potash, as it is practically free from 

 Chlorine. Sulphuric Acid, a necessary ingredient of Sul- 

 phate of Ammonia and Superphosphate, is believed to pos- 

 sess an injurious effect similar to that of chlorine when used 

 in excess. This is an additional reason for discouraging the 

 excessive use of Acid Phosphate, beyond the fact that too 

 much phosphoric acid will not do any good, or in other 

 words, it is just so much money and labor wasted. These 

 disadvantages can be greatly reduced by fall application, 

 and neither phosphoric acid nor potash is as susceptible to 

 very great loss by leaching, as is the case with nitrogenous 

 fertilizers. 



The science of tobacco fertilizing is much further ad- 

 vanced in the Connecticut Valley than in any other tobacco 

 district, and there the use of fertilizer is most general, and 

 the yields are for that reason heaviest. The average for 

 Connecticut per acre is 1402 Ibs. of leaf as against 373 Ibs. 

 in North Carolina. (Cigar tobacco is heavier than yellow 

 tobacco.) White Burley and Perique tobaccos are the only 

 classes of leaf largely grown without manure or fertilizers. 

 Rotation, however, is there strictly followed. Tobacco is fol- 

 lowed by wheat, which is seeded to Timothy, or bluegrass 

 with clover, and the clover is allowed to remain two or three 



