on Gardening and Rural Affairs. 85 



such as artichokes, kidneybeans, fern, beech or buck wheat, &c. are con- 

 sidered favourable manures. 



The seed of the tobacco should be sown on a slight hot-bed in the month 

 of March. One ounce of seed will furnish plants for a plantation of an 

 acre and a half in extent. The seed should not exceed two years old, and 

 should be sown sufficiently thin to cover the surface of a bed twenty-four 

 feet long and four feet broad. It may be steeped before sowing, and kept 

 moist in a warm place till it begins to swell, in order to hasten its germi- 

 nation. M. B. Saint-Martin sows from a tin dredging-box, but that we 

 consider to be unnecessary : machinery should never be resorted to merely 

 to supersede a little care. Formerly, it is said, the tobacco beds were 

 covered with straw instead of glass frames ; but the plants were found to 

 be too much etiolated, and therefore glass sashes and a frame, like that used 

 for growing cucumbers, are recommended as decidedly preferable. Plenty 

 of air is given at all times, and in fine weather the sashes are removed 

 during the day. About the beginning of May, and sometimes a fortnight 

 earlier, the plants will have attained a sufficient size for transplanting ; and 

 a week before this operation commences, the bed should be left night and 

 day without the frame and sashes. The tobacco is nearly as susceptible of 

 injury from frost as the potato. 



The soil for the plantation should be deeply ploughed, well pulverised, 

 and sufficiently manured. The plants may be placed in rows two feet apart, 

 and two feet distant in the row : they should be watered, and, if con- 

 venient, a little litter laid round the root of each plant, to retain the 

 moisture in the soil. " It must never be forgotten that this plant loves the 

 sun and humidity :" hence, besides keeping the ground clear of weeds, the 

 plants are watered frequently during the months of June, July, and August. 

 After the plants have produced five or six leaves on the stem, they must 

 be prevented from running to flower, by pinching out the heart of the main 

 shoot, and rubbing off all the side shoots which are produced from it. With- 

 out this precaution, the principal part of the nourishment drawn up by the 

 plant would go towards the formation of flowers and seeds, and the leaves 

 would become thin and wither off. By shortening the main shoot, the whole 

 of the nourishment is directed to the leaves, which thereby become strong 

 and succulent, without any tendency to decay. Sometimes the plants are 

 earthed up a little, but that operation is by no means essential. 



It is almost unnecessary to observe that, when seed is required, two or 

 three vigorous plants are allowed to run to flower. When the seed is ripe, 

 the plants are taken up, hung up in a dry airy situation, and afterwards the 

 seed capsules taken off and preserved till wanted in paper. It is found 

 that the seeds preserve much better when kept in the capsules than by any 

 other means. 



M. Saint-Martin gives no direction for gathering the leaves ; but the fol- 

 lowing mode is described in the Cours d' Agriculture Complet, as practised 

 in Alsatia, in France, and in Virginia. The leaves are known to be fit for 

 cutting when they have attained their full size, a dark green colour, and a 

 brittle succulent texture. The lowest leaves acquire these properties first, 

 and, in gardens or small plantations, are therefore first gathered, by being 

 cut off with a knife close to the stem. Where tobacco is cultivated ex- 

 tensively, however, instead of gathering the leaves separately, the plants are 

 cut over by the surface of the ground, and suspended under an open shed 

 upon lines, so far apart that the leaves may not touch each other. In this 

 state they remain till the leaves are perfectly dry, when they are stripped 

 from the stalks, and tied in small bundles, a leaf serving for the tie. These 

 bundles are laid in heaps in a shed, in order to bring on a similar degree of 

 fermentation to what takes place in new hay. That this fermentation may 



