Brodigan' s Treatise on the Tobacco Plant. 271 



year 1828, Brodigan observes, the culture was limited ; but, in that year, 

 there were 130 acres under tobacco ; and, in 1829, 1000 acres in Wexford 

 alone. " It has been partially cultivated in the adjoining counties of Car- 

 low, Waterford, and Kilkenny, and other places. In the province of Con- 

 naught, an experiment was made in the vicinity of Westport. It has been 

 grown, in one or two instances, near Dublin ; in the northern section of the 

 kingdom, two or three trials have taken place on a small scale ; " and our 

 author has cultivated several acres in the neighbourhood of Drogheda, pre- 

 paring the soil by horse-labour, as for turnips. 



The culture of tobacco in Ireland, as practised by Mr. Brodigan, is thus 

 given : — " Hot-beds, like those made for cucumbers, are to be prepared in 

 March, and the seeds sown any time from the 15th of that month to the 

 1st of April. In the beginning of May, the plants may be hardened by 

 exposure to the air ; and, by the 15th or 20th of that month, they may be 

 transplanted into the open field without injury. Forty thousand plants, fit for 

 transplanting, may be raised on an area of 100 square feet. According to 

 Carver, a square yard will rear about 500 plants, and allow proper space 

 for their nurture till they are fit for transplanting. The field was prepared 

 in every respect the same as for turnips ; the drills or ridgelets were 18 in. 

 apart, and the manure, of which a good supply was given, buried in the 

 centre of each ridgelet. The plants were put in with spades, at 18 in. 

 apart, along the centre of the ridgelet, and afterwards watered. " The 

 planters were followed by women, with their aprons full of long grass, with 

 which they covered each plant, and confined it by placing a stone or lump 

 of earth at both ends ; this covering is indispensable, unless the weather 

 prove wet and cloudy. Such is the extreme delicacy of the plant, it will 

 not bear the heat of the sun, unless it has so far set in the soil as to be able 

 to supply the loss by evaporation. This will not be for some days, during 

 which time the cover cannot be safely removed, and watering to the extent 

 of a pint a plant may be daily used. Some of the respectable planters in 

 the county of Wexford have used pots as a covering for the plants, of 

 which some thousands will be necessary. Others have used large oyster- 

 shells, leaves of cabbages or docks. I have tried all these methods, and expe- 

 rience has satisfied me the mode I practised has decided advantages. It 

 protects the plants sufficiently against the sun, and the water passes freely 

 through it ; whereas, where pots or leaves are used, they must be removed 

 to admit water ; and, in case of rain, the plants receive little or no benefit 

 from it. The operation of planting may be continued until the 20th of 

 June ; but the earlier the better, after the frosts have passed away. In 

 America and France, I found that four months were generally considered 

 as necessary for the maturation of the plants ; and that time, in this climate, 

 cannot be allowed, unless they are put down early." (p. 160.) 



The Summer Management of Tobacco, by Mr. Brodigan, consisted in 

 loosening the soil about the plants, removing the weeds, watering "for 

 weeks together," taking off" the decayed leaves at bottom, topping when the 

 plant has from 9 to 14 good leaves, and removing the side buds as they 

 appear. 



The curing Process, by Mr. Brodigan, is as follows : — " About the middle 

 of August, the plants having attained their full size, four or five of the 

 bottom leaves of each plant are taken off, suffered to lie on the ground 

 for some time, and, when they lose then* brittleness, and can be safely 

 handled, they are carried home to a barn, and there put in a heap for fer- 

 mentation. The heap is turned, placing that in the centre which was before 

 in the bottom or exterior, and the temperature not allowed to exceed 100° 

 or 110°. After remaining two or three days in this heap, the leaves are 

 spread out and cooled, and strung by the midrib on lines of packthread ; 

 they are then hung up in an airy shady place, roofed in. When the leaves 

 thus suspended have acquired an auburn colour, they are fit for a second 



