CULTURE AND CURING IN WISCONSIN. 233 



to a minimum. Level lauds usually produce a much larger leaf than rolling lands, but it is not so fine, the tobacco 

 grown on the latter commanding a liigher price in market, while that grown on the former will make a heavier 

 yield per acre. In many localities the seed-leaf is grown, for the most part, on level lands, and the Spanish 

 varieties on rolling surfaces. 



TOBACCO FEETILIZEES. 



Fully four-lifths of the lands planted in tobacco are heavily fertilized with barn-yard manure, from ten to 

 twenty loads being applied to every acre, at a cost varying from $10 to $20 per acre; and it not uufrequently occurs that 

 the lands intended for other crops are robbed of their due proportion of manure in order that the tobacco lands 

 may be enriched to their full capacity of production. This is plainly seen in the exuberant growth of the tobacco- 

 plant and the scanty growth of some other crops. The tendency, however, is to a better preservation of the soil 

 by increasing the manure piles and making use of the large deposits of muck which are so abundant in southern 

 Wisconsin. Manure is applied broadcast, and is plowed or harrowed in a few weeks before the land isfinally prepared 

 for transplanting. 



The eft'ect of manures upon the yield and quality of the crop is very great, good, rich bottom-lauds, without 

 any recent application of manure, producing about 1,000 pounds of medium seed-leaf tobacco per acre; but with 

 the application of ten loads of manure to the acre the yield is increased for the swd-leaf from 500 to 700 pounds, 

 the quality being fully a third better, and the tobacco is darker, richer, and silkier. The increase in yield for tin- 

 Spanish varieties is about '25 per cent., but manure does not appear to improve its quality to the same degree as with 

 the heaA'ier seed-leaf varieties. Instances are given where the same land has been planted in tobacco for a period 

 of twenty-seven years in succession without any apparent diminution in its producing capacity. The land, however, 

 has received heavy application.-* of manure every year. It is a very rare thing for any laud, except that newly 

 cleared, to be planted in tobacco without previously applying fertilizers. The few cases, however, reported show a 

 decline in yield of at least 10 per cent, annually. 



In the region immediately around Edgerton an increase in the yield of similar varieties is reported of 20 per 

 cent, within the past ten years, but in Jefferson county a decrease of 10 per cent, within the same period is given. 

 This difference is due to the fact that near the former place only heavily manured lots are planted in tobacco, 

 while in the latter a larger proportion of newly-cleared lands is used for growing tobacco, and, as is probably the case, 

 the best tobacco lands were the first cleared, leaving the inferior new lands to come in later. In Eock, Dane, and 

 Greene counties the general practice among tobacco-growers is to keep the same field year after year in tobacco, 

 the land receiving a heavy coating of manure every year ; and in this way there is, so to speak, a cumulative Strength 

 given to the soil, no one crop being sufficient to exhaust the manure applied for its production. The soil, therefore, 

 is constantly improved and enriched, and each successive crop shows a larger yield. In Jefferson county, on tln> 

 contrary, the schedules show that the principle of rotation is practiced to a considerable extent. After tobacco 

 comes wheat, followed by clover, and then corn, after which comes tobacco again. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 the farmers in a large portion of the tobacco-growing district do not practice green-manuring or rotation, it is 

 admitted that it would add to the friability of the soil and make it more retentive of moisture during the summer 

 mouths. 



Losses in the crop not unfrequently occur from " brown-rust" or firing, and a few days' delay in housing will 

 sometimes reduce the quality of the tobacco fully one-half. "Brown-rust" is a disease resulting from the combined 

 effects of hot weather and a superabundance of heat-producing manure in the soil. 



All reports, however, concur in saying that the general quality of the crop during the past ten years has been 

 greatly improved in consequence of increased care and attention in housing, curing, and assorting. The increased 

 knowledge, too, among farmers-, has led to a better selection of soils, which, when once proved congenial to the 

 growth of tobacco, are set apart for that purpose, and are kept up to a high degree of fertility. 



Of the tobacco lands in cultivation probably two-thirds were originally prairie, with a calcareous, sandy loam ; 

 the remainder originally oak openings, with hazel undergrowth. Probably only 4 or 5 per cent, of the soils 

 adapted to the growth of tobacco are occupied in its cultivation in the counties under consideration. 



SEED-BEDS. 



The seed-beds are burned lightly with brush, and a liberal supply of hen manure or horse dung is worked into 

 the soil to the depth of 6 inche/with a hoe or a spade. The work of preparation often begins in July, when the 

 manure is applied. The bed is reworked in August and again in September, for the purpose of keeping down any 

 weeds or grass that may spring up, and finally, in November, it is hoed and raked and prepared to receive the 

 seed, which is either sown in the fall or early in the succeeding spring. When sown in the fall, the seed is not 

 previously sprouted. After sowing, the bed is compacted by rolling, tramping, or clapping with a board. The 

 plants are carefully nursed by liquid manuring, aud by keeping the grass and weeds pulled out. By proper care, 

 they will be large enough for transplanting in the field by the 1st of June. 



