416 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman — Before they go into tobacco growing they 

 should know that it tears land all to pieces, and does no good, but 

 only harm to all who consume it. But if they will raise a noxious 

 weed, this is the outline of what they should do. First, as early 

 as March burn a brush-heap on a warm slope toward the south where 

 the land is rich ; then spade up the ground, mixing the ashes well, 

 and work in half a cart-load of hen manure or hog manure, the finest 

 and strongest on the place. This is the seed bed. Sow, as soon as 

 you do onions, broadcast, and rake in weed, often using a ladder to 

 lay across the bed so as not to step on any plants. Urge the growth 

 of the young plants by liquid manuring. By the middle of June 

 they should be big enough to set. The field is to be as fine and rich 

 as a garden ; fifty loads of dung to the acre is not too much. Set 

 out just like cabbage plants ; hoe often, keep perfectly clean, and 

 break off the suckers. About the last of August the plants get their 

 growth. Cut them with a hatchet close to the ground, and when 

 they wilt a little, so the leaves will not break by handling, lay on a 

 wagon and take to an open shed, and hang with tops down till it cures. 

 It is hard to give instructions for curing, as so much depends on 

 climate. In cool, damp weather the leaves are stripped, care being 

 used not to tear them. The most valuable tobacco is the Connecticut 

 leaf, used mostly for wrapping cigars. The seed he will get of some 

 farmer in Windsor, Conn., or West Springfield, Mass. As for the 

 Long Evergreen broom-corn seed, he can get it probably at St. Louis, 

 certainly in ISTew Orleans, but it is doubtful whether it will suit the 

 latitude of Wisconsin. 



Gkaftixg Grapes. 



Mr. C. A. Fisk, Harmonsburg, Pa., wrote that he has some wild 

 ones which he desires to graft with improved varieties. " How shall 

 I do this', and when ? " 



Mr. A. S. Fuller — It is not every one who can graft grapevines and 

 be successful. It is well enough for every one to try, because there 

 is a chance of success, and that is something worth striving for. 

 Vines may be grafted at any time during the fell or winter when the 

 ground is not frozen. Cut the vine to be grafted down close to the 

 roots, and if two or three inches below the surface so much the better. 

 Split the stock and insert the scion in the same manner as we graft 

 large branches of apple or pear trees. If the stocks are too small to 

 be split, then splice the scion on to one side, being careful to have the 

 two neatly joined together. If the grafts are inverted during cold 



