CULTURE AND CURING IN NEW ENGLAND. 



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coarseness of texture. Upon light sandy soil the quality is very fine, but the color is light. By judicious sweating, 

 tobacco can often be changed from a light cinnamon to a dark brown color, in which case it makes wrappers that 

 command the highest prices. A quality of tobacco between the two is very popular, because it both sweats well 

 and supplies a large proportion of wrappers. 



Soils near the sea-coast, though in appearance having all the physical qualities required for the production <>!' 

 the finest leaf, yet often produce tobacco the burning qualities of which are imperfect. This doubtless arises from 

 the existence of the chloride of sodium, or common salt, in the soil; for it is the result of long observation, both in 

 Europe and in this country, that the use of salt, while it is thought to increase the crop, diminishes the burning 

 qualities of tobacco. The soil preferred in the Housatonic valley is known as a ridgy loam, dark in color, with a 

 small portion of sand. It is intermediate between a light sandy and a loamy clay soil, and is found on hill lands. 

 The tobacco grown on this soil has all the fineness of texture of that grown upon a light sandy soil, and most of the 

 body, and all the elasticity, strength, and sweating qualities, of that grown upon a clayey soil, aud will supply more 

 wrappers than if grown on either the light sandy or the heavy clay soils. 



Of the tobacco raised in New England, the best crops will make C6 per cent, wrappers, 23 per cent, seconds 

 or binders, and 9 per cent, fillers ; but the inferior crops will show a reduced percentage in wrappers, and a 

 corresponding increase in the other two grades. 



It is the impression among many dealers and farmers that the quality of the tobacco has deteriorated during the 

 past decade, but of this there is some doubt. Many maintain, with a good show of reason, that the crop is much 

 better managed now than ever before, because buyers exercise more vigilance in the selection of good crops than 

 formerly, and because the houses in which it is cured are better fitted for the purpose. There is a small area, about 

 fifteen miles long and three miles broad, in which are included South Windsor, East Hartford, and Glastoubury, 

 that is pre-eminently distinguished for its fine leaf. The soil is a light yellowish "sandy loam, very mellow, made 

 very fertile by the application of manures, moist and warm, and usually deep, but occasionally sandstones of the 

 Triassic period appear above the surface, these sandstones being ferruginous, sometimes micaceous, and often 

 conglomeritic. The fineness of the sedimentary deposits, the variety of the inorganic elements derived from the 

 slates, traps, granitic, feldspathic, and hornblendic rocks that bound the valley, and the excellent drainage, all 

 combine to make a soil perfectly adapted to the growth of the tobacco-plant. For the growing of tobacco a very 

 small percentage of the land is employed ; indeed, in a farm of one hundred acres, three or four acres may bo 

 considered the average amount planted. 



ROTATION. 



In the Connecticut valley all the soils cultivated in tobacco have been in careful and skillful tillage from one 

 hundred to two hundred years or more. The rotation practiced in the valley is grass several years, after which 

 succeeds tobacco for a number of years, two or three usually, but frequently four or five, after which the land is 

 again seeded to grass. It is difficult to have any regular rotation, because the local variations in soil characteristics 

 make some of it peculiarly adapted to the growth of tobacco, while other varieties are better suited to the production 

 of hay, or corn, or buckwheat, or are found more profitable in permanent pasturage. 



Grown upon rolling lands of the Housatonic valley, tobacco has a much darker and thicker leaf; but upon 

 freshly-cleared lands it grows coarse, and is destitute of gum and elasticity. Probably one-third of the crop grown 

 in this valley is planted on valley lands and the remainder on slopes and tops of ridges. 



MANURES AND THEIR APPLICATION. 



The original growth of the tobacco area is said to have been white oak, pine, red maple, birch, and chestnut, 

 which would indicate soils of medium strength. In the raising of a tobacco crop especially manures always 

 enter as much into the calculation of the cost of production as the labor employed, from five to ten loads of stable 

 manure being applied to every acre intended for tobacco, and generally from 300 to 500 pounds of superphosphates 

 or Peruvian guano. In the districts around Hartford the following are the kinds and the prices of the various 

 fertilizers, as well as the amount used per acre : 



Kinds. 



Stable manure 



Castor pomace 



Peruvian guano 



Superphosphates 



Bone meal 



Fish guano or scrap. 



Tobacco stalks 



Lime 



Leached ashes 



Newton marl 



Stockbridge tobacco fertilizer. 

 Sheep manure 



Cost. 



Amount applied per acre. 



$6 to $8 per cord 5 to 15 cords. 



$22 per ton When used exclusively, 2 tons; less quantity with other fertilizers. 



$56 per ton 300 pounds, in connection with 5 cords of stable manure. 



$30 to $40 per ton j 300 to 500 pounds, with from 5 to 9 cords of stable manure. 



$32 to $40 per ton j Always used with other fertilizers ; not a favorite with tobacco-growers. 



Dry $35 to $38; half dry $18 to $20 per I From 1,000 to 2.000 pounds per acre, always applied with other fertilizers; not a 

 ton. favorite manure. 



$10 to $14 per ton j When applied exclusively, from 1 J to 4 tons. 



$1 50 to $2 per barrel of three bushels . Two barrels, with other fertilizers. 



26 cents per bushel Very popnlar with tobacco-growers ; quantity applied very variable. 



$3 to $8 per ton Two tons; said to make tobacco of superior quality. 



Used by some with good results; 500 pounds per acre. 



$8 to $10 per cord All that can be obtained. 



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