426 THE SOIL AFFECTING COLOR. 
and every successive spring presents an additional field, or 
opening of tobacco (for it is not necessary to put much fence 
round that kind of crop); and to procure this new ground 
you will observe him clearing the woods from the sides of 
the steepest hills, which afford a suitable soil; for a Virginian 
never thinks of reinstating or manuring his land with economy 
until he can find no more new land to exhaust, or wear out, 
as he calls it; and, besides, the tobacco which is produced 
from manured or cow-penned land, is only considered, in 
ordinary, to be a crop of second quality. It will hence be 
perceived, (and more particularly when it is known that the 
earth must be continually worked to make a good crop of 
tobacco, without even regarding the heat of the sun, or the 
torrent of sudden showers,) that, however lucrative this kind 
of culture may be in respect to the intermediate profits, there 
is a considerable drawback in the waste of soil.” * 
In the Connecticut valley where tobacco is grown for 
wrapping purposes, the selection of soil will depend upon the 
color of leaf in demand (as the soil as well as the fertil- 
izers determine in a measure the color and texture of the 
tobacco). If the grower wishes to obtain dark colored 
tobacco then the soil selected should be a dark loam; on the 
other hand, if a light colored wrapper is desired he selects a 
light loam, and with the application of proper fertilizers the 
proper color will be obtained. 
The tobacco plant flourishes well either on high or low 
ground, providing the soil be dry and free from’stones, which 
are a source of annoyance during the cultivation’ of the 
plants and especially in harvesting. When grown on very 
low ground the plants should be “set” early, so as to harvest 
before early frosts. The plant may be cultivated on such soil 
in almost any part of the valley excepting only near the sound, 
or other body of salt water, the effect produced by plant- 
ing tobacco too near the sea, more especially in Connecticut, 
being injurious to the leaf, which is apt to be thick and unfit 
*Liancourt in his Travels in North America, says of tobacco culture in Virginia: “The 
nature of the country beyond the James River is much more variegated than on this side. 
At present they are preparing the lands for the planting of tobacco. After heying worked 
the land it is thrown into small hillocks, * ** The cultivation of tobacco, which has 
been very much neglected during several years, is more followed this year on account of 
the high price it bears in Europe ; but the soil has been so long worked with this exhausting 
produce, and is so badly manured (for manure is absolutely necessary for tobacco when the 
soil is not newly broken up), that it is not capable of producing good crops.” 
