476 “SECOND GROWTH. 
on the original field, is found in the early history of the 
Virginia colony; who, not satisfied with the vast amount 
cultivated in the usual manner, allowed a second growth to 
spring up from the parent stalk and thus obtained two crops 
from the same field in one year. The inferior quality of this 
growth at length caused its prohibition by law, as described 
elsewhere in this work. Of late, however, this “new 
departure” in tobacco culture seems to have attracted some 
attention, particularly in the Southern States, where numer- 
ous experiments have been made, and in some instances with 
complete success. In Mexico and also in Louisiana and Cali- 
fornia, two and even three crops are gathered, thus adding 
to the profit of the grower, but hardly to the fertility of the 
tobacco fields. Whatever the fertility of the tobacco field 
may be, or the care and attention given to the second crop by 
the planter, it can not equal the first crop, and must from the 
nature of the case be quite inferior in size, texture, and flavor 
of leaf. 
Doubtless the varieties grown in the tropics will be much 
finer than the varieties grown in a more temperate region. 
There are many reasons why a second and third crop can not 
be equal to the first in the qualities necessary for fine leafy 
tobacco. In the first place, the soil will hardly produce a 
second crop of the size and texture of leaf that will compare 
with the first growth: the leaves will be small and resemble 
the top leaves of the original plant rather than the large, 
well-formed leaves of the center. Again, the season will 
hardly be favorable (unless in the tropics), for a second 
growth, which has much to do with the quality of the leaf 
and which alone ensures large, well-matured plants. 
In the Connecticut valley but one crop can be grown of 
seed leaf, and even this when planted late is frequently 
overtaken by the “frost king” whose cold breath strikes a 
chill to the heart of the tobacco grower who has been so 
unfortunate as to have but a few plants; especially if his 
fields were “set” late in the season, or with “spindling” or 
“Jong shank plants” which come forward slowly and forbid 
