8 



PROFITABLE FARMING. 



Fig. 5 represents the flower magnified, showing 

 the female organs or stigma only, with the male or- 

 gans or stamens clipped off by tweezers. 

 ^^^ Fig. 6 represents the seed capsule, natural size, in 



»%^»" the green state, just as it reaches the maximum of its 



^- 5. growth. 



Fig. 7 represents the ^eed capsule in its dry or cured condition, ready for cut- 

 tSxig from the rtiain stem of the plant, to be hung up in a dry room for preservation. 



Fig. 8 represents the capsule broken open with seed exposed, ready for the 

 plant-bed. 



For the guidance of the planter we give the definitions, or nomenclature of 

 the essential organs of the tobacco plant, as a more intelligent guide to crossing 

 varieties. Stigma, the upper extremity of the pistil, or that part which receives 

 the pollen; pistil, the central organ of the flower, consisting of the ovary, stylus 

 and stigma; style or stylus, the etalk or elongation of the ovarium whiclj 

 supports the stigma; ovary, the organ containing the female ova, or in which 

 impregnation is performed, the hollow case enclosing the ovules or young seed; 

 etamen, the male apparatus or fertilizing organ of the flower, consisting of fila- 

 ments, anther and pollen; filaments, the fine threads of which the nerves, skin 

 and flesh are composed; anther, that part of the flower containing the pollen or 

 fertilizing dust by which the seed-vessel is fructified; pollen, the powder or pul- 

 verulent substance contained in and on the anther of the flower; capsule, the 

 woody seed-vessel of the plant. 



[Note. — ^The publishers take pleasure in stating that the tobacco seed raised 

 by Major R. L. Ragland, of Hyco, Va., have won a deservedly high and exten ive 

 ■ leputation, both at home and abroad, as the best for all the distinctive types grown 

 in the United States. They are grown on scientific principles and by *he latest 

 improved methods, and have ^received the endorsation and recommendation of 

 the Tobacco Associations of Virginia and North Carolina.] 



Of the multitude of certificates recommending Major Ragland's seed we 

 fielect only one, which is instructive, and covers the ground completely: 



"We assume that you have secured seed of absolute purity and with as much 

 care as you select for other crops. By far too little attention has been paid to 

 this. You can no more gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles than you 

 can get good tobacco from impure or imperfect seed. It is a mistake to think it 

 economy to buy or borrow from your neighbor whatever he has, simply because 

 it is called tobacco seed. The raising of seed is as much a business by itself as 

 is any other branch of agriculture. The proof of this is found in the results 



