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168 



THE ILLINOIS f AEMEK. 



June 



Mulching With. Manure. 



The difficulty with our summers is, that there is 

 too much drouth. A rich, mellow soil is, in part, 

 a preventative of this. A coat of straw, sawdust, 

 tan-bark, or almost any covering, will prevent the 

 flun from strikiBg the soil, and th« ground will 

 consequently be kept more moist. But these ap- 

 plications require labor. To remedy this, when 

 manure is applied to enrich your land, let it be 

 done as much as possible as a top dressing, we 

 mean on grain as well as meadows or pastures. 

 Draw rank manure — any manure — early in the fall 

 upon your meadows or grass lands, spread at once; 

 but on cultivated land, manure can only be applied 

 to the surface after the harrow has left it, and then 

 it should be applied. It may be harrowed in or 

 not. It will not only add fertility to the grain, but 

 at the same time afford a covering against the sun 

 and wind of great importance. This is getting to 

 be understood now. It is the protection from the 

 gun that makes it so advantageous. Raw, or un- 

 fermented manure may be used on grain in this 

 way, with perhaps little, though some, injury at 

 first. But not so much as on meadows. Rank ma- 

 nure is bad applied on meadows in the spring. It 

 is beneficial then only as a mulch. Let farmers try 

 little spots of grain in this way for an experiment, 

 and they will see what a discovery they have made. 

 It will not do to say the soil is rich enough : — the 

 soil is deteriorating ; and increased richness adds 

 increased abundance of most products. When the 

 soil is still rich, then is the time to prepare against 

 its exhaustion. "When once exhausted it will be 

 too late. We will then have the soil of Italy, 

 Ireland, Egypt and Greece, and all the accient do- 

 main. It is considered an impossibility to reclaim 

 such soils. This should be avoided ; the soil kept 

 good — and now is the time to do this. Land 

 mulched with manure has the advantage both of 

 moisture and fertility ; two things gained in one. 

 Mulching is assuming an important rank in agri- 

 culture. It is the coat that protects. Try a little 

 manure on your grain, harrowed in or otherwise. 



Treating and Flavoring Tobacco. 



A very common opinion prevailed for a long pe- 

 riod that tobacco was a tropical plant, and could 

 notbe cultivated in latitudes of moderate tempera- 

 ture. It , is a fact, however, that it will grow 

 and may be cultivated, not only in all latitudes of 

 where corn or maize comes to maturity, but in re- 

 gions much further north. Large crop's of tobacco 

 are now raised in the valley of the Connecticut, 

 and the leaf of the plant is smooth and held to be 

 weU suited for the wrappers of cigars. It is also 

 cultivated in some portions of Albany and Ontario 

 counties in New York ; thus proving that the plant 



may thrive in our most northern States. And not 

 only may it be cultivated in such latitudes, but it 

 is well known that soon after it was introduced 

 from America into England it was cultivated for a 

 period with success in several sections of that coun- 

 try, and also in Ireland. In 1670 it was grown in 

 Yorkshire to a considerable extent, but its cultiva- 

 tion was prohibited by an act of Government, for 

 the purpose of deriving a large revenue from that 

 which was imported. This occurred during the pe- 

 riod of the Commonwealth, in 1652, and since then 

 not a leaf of tobacco, except as a curiosity, haa 

 been grown in England. 



We have been told by those who are esteemed 

 connoisseurs of tobacco, that although this plant 

 grows luxuriantly, when properly treated, in the 

 States, still it is not equal to the qualities which 

 are cultivated in warmer latitudes. This perhaps 

 owing to the mode by which it is treated, after it 

 has matured. In Virginia the sun-dried tobacco is 

 held to be the best for chewing, but most of it is 

 finally cured by artificial heat. Tobacco in leaf, is 

 very sensitive to moisture in the atmosphere, be- 

 cause it contains so much potash, common salt and 

 lime. An analysis of this plant gave: potash, 8.7 

 per cent.; lime, 82.2; common salt, 3.8 ; magnesia, 

 2.8. In Richmond, which has been the headquar- 

 ters of the tobacco business, there are very exten- 

 sive manufactories where the leaf is cured, and af- 

 terwards made into plugs for chewing. Great care 

 and attention are necessary to the proper curing of 

 it, and if the weather is moist during the operations 

 it is very liable to mildtw. In clear dry weather 

 it is spread on the tops of sheds, and hung in every 

 situation where it can be exposed to the dry air. 

 The sky is watched with anxiety during such ex- 

 posure, so that it may not receive a drop of rain. 

 Very frequently it receives its final drying in warm 

 apartments, and in many cases these are heated 

 witb open fires — dry corn-cobs being about the 

 best fuel that can be used. Pine and other woods 

 impart their resinous taste to the tobacco, if the 

 sMoke is pemiittei to permeate through the 

 leaves. 



After tobacco is perfectly cured, it is prepared 

 for pressing. It is now a common practice to fla- 

 vor it with some mixture of a sweet and aromatic 

 character. A common preparation is that of the 

 tonqua bean, which has a pleasant odor. Vanilla 

 is also used, and different manufacturers have 

 their special mixtures. The leaves are spread out 

 and slightly sprinkled with the aromatic liquid un- 

 til a sufficient quantity of the moisture is absorbed 

 to render them pliable. They are then rolled into 

 cylindrical packages, and these are squeezed into 

 flat plugs in powerful presses. A number of such 

 plugs are subsequently placed together and subject- 

 ed to a second pressing operation, by which the 

 plugs are converted into square blocks,and thus fit- 

 ted for transport and market. It was formerly the 

 custom to place the pressed tobacco in a room 

 called the sweat-house, where it remained for a 

 considerable period exposed to a warm atmos- 

 phere. This made the tobacco sweat ; globules 

 of juice appeared upon its surface and dropped 

 on the floor, and its taste was much improved there- 

 by. 



It is also common with seme tobacco manufac- 

 turers to sweeten the dark and rank qualities for 

 chewing by dipping the leaves in bunches into su- 

 gar sirup, before pressing them. We have only 



