The Tobacco Plant loi 



robs the ground of all its mineral constituents. Lime 

 yields a large but rather poor crop. The best manure 

 is naturally tobacco-ash, for it is simply the restora- 

 tion to the earth of the minerals the plant absorbed 

 from it. Just as four pounds of tobacco yield one 

 pound of ash, so will one pound of ash yield four 

 pounds to tobacco again. It is almost surprising that 

 steps have not been taken to collect smokers' ashes for 

 dressing the growing crops. But the practical diiifi- 

 culties in thus raising tobacco. Phoenix-like, from its 

 own ashes, are insurmountable. 



The best soil is alluvial, or a light loam with plenty 

 of potash. New land gives a large crop of coarse, 

 strong leaves, and old soil a smaller but better and 

 sweeter tobacco, provided it has been well dressed 

 with potash. 



The plants are annually sown from seed, of which 

 Linnaeus counted 40,000 in a single pod. Some 

 months before sowing-time the beds are broken up, 

 drained, dug round as for asparagus, and a fire lit on 

 the ground to destroy all weeds. 



The seed is extremely minute, a hundred thousand, 

 it is calculated, going to the ounce; this quantity 

 about fills a thimble. Half an ounce is the usual 

 quantity of seed allowed per acre, and it is mixed 

 with ashes or sand to assist its equable distribution. 

 Between the middle of March and the beginning of 

 April seeds are sown in America, to which we are 

 now confining our remarks. In cold climates it is 

 necessary to sow the seed in hot-beds. 



The soil must be kept moist, but not wet, by 

 watering. The bed is covered with manure, ashes, 



