38 TUE CI'LTURE OF rOBACCO. 



pounds of leaf toliarco, thvee million pounds of plug, and three 

 hundred million cigarettes ; also a (juantitv of cigars. The most of 

 the plug and cigarettes went to British South Africa, as did one 

 hundred and fifty thousand pounds of the leaf. West Afjica, and 

 particularly British West Africa, consumed the major portion of 

 the unstemnied leaf. 



The United States annually exports about three hundred million 

 pounds of leaf tobacco, at an average export price (jf fivepence a 

 pound. This consists of nearly all of the loM'er grades of tobacco. 

 Besides this, the United States manufactured about three hundred 

 million pounds of pipe and chewing tobacco, fifteen million pounds 

 of snuff, six billion cigars, and five billion cigarettes, as well as 

 importivig about twenty million pounds of foreign leaf, and (pian- 

 tities of cigars and manufactured tobaccos. As yet the United 

 States has been an importei' of the better grades of cigar tobaccos, 

 but that portion of the industi'v is now being pushed in a scien- 

 tific manner, and it may be only a short time before the United 

 States will also be an exporter of Cuban tillers and Sumati'a 

 wiappers, 



THE SEED BED. 



The toliaccu seed is very small, and the reserve niateiial for the 

 nourishment of the young plant is soon exhausted. As a result the 

 young plant is foi'ced to pi'epaie its own food much so<iner than is the 

 case with most plants. Because of this the young plant makes a very 

 slow growth in its initial stages, so that soil and plant food must be 

 placed in as favourable a condition as possiljle to aid the young j^lant 

 through this critical period. 



If all the seeds were fertile and capable of germination, (jne 

 ounce of tobacco seed would be sutticient for three hundred thousand 

 jjlants. Expeiience has .shown, h(jwever, that at least seventv-five 

 per cent, of the seeds are sterile, and that many of the lemainder will 

 pi'oduce small and unthrifty plants, so that for every thii'ty thousand 

 plants lequiied it is necessary to allow one ounce of seed. Thirty 

 thousand plants would be sufficient to set two acres of the cigar 

 tobaccos and from four to seven acres of the other types of tobacco. 



The plant bed for one ounce of seed should cover about fiftv 

 square yards. To) laccu seed is not expensive when the ai'ea that a 

 small amount will plant is considered, and it is far lietter to have too 

 many plants than not to have enough or be forced to set weak 

 plants. Many planters sow sevei'al times as many seed beds as would 

 be necessary under ideal conditions, and allow short intervals of time 

 to elapse between the sowings of the different beds. This assures them 

 a sufficient qua)itity of healthy plants even if there be some losses. 

 Then the time of planting varies with the different seasons, and it is 

 an important matter to have plants of just the right size to set out 

 when they are required. 



Before sowing the seed it is a good plan to test the germination. 

 A hundred seeds are counted out and placed between two pieces of 

 moist blotting papei". The paper is kept between two plates and at a 

 tenqjerature of from seventy t<i eighty degrees for ten davs, at the 

 end of which time the percentage of good seed is determined bv 

 counting the number of seeds germinated. This will enable the 

 planter to make up for any deficiency in germinatiiMi by the u.*e of a 



