THE CULTURE OE TOBACCO. 133 



their roots attack stores of plant food Ijeyond the reach of the 

 tobacco plant, and bring these materials near the surface of the 

 soil, where they are left in an easily digestible condition for the roots 

 of the tobacco plant. But as these crops have the same action in 

 thickening and strengthening the tobacco leaf as has stable manure, 

 they should be used sparingly for the iiner types of leaf. The 

 growers of Bright tobacco, the chief merit of which lies in its 

 colour, find that the tobacco grown on the land immediately after 

 the ploughing under of a leguminous crop is deficient in texture and 

 colour. Howevei', the soil must be kept stocked with a certain amount 

 of nitrogen and humus, and the method of these growers is to 

 plant some other crop like cotton or maize upon the land the first 

 season after the addition of the leguminous cropj, and to partially 

 exhaust the nitrogen by means of it. A humus that is not so rich 

 in nitrogen may be added by ploughing under a crop of weeds, or rye, 

 or buckwheat. The Bright tobacco planters find that if they allow 

 their land to grow up to grass and weeds for a year, and plough 

 this under, that they have the land in the best condition for a fine 

 crop of tobacco. The allowance of this length of time would hardlv 

 appear necessary, for the same results might be obtained by the 

 sowing of a rapid growing, non-leguminous, catch crop like buck- 

 wheat and the loss of the land for a year be avoided. 



Nitrogen may be added to the soil in other forms, as nitrate 

 of soda, sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate of potash. This latter salt 

 has the additional advantage of supplying the potash as well as the 

 nitrogen for the crop. Where cotton is produced the use of cotton 

 seed meal (the product left after the extraction of the oil) is to be 

 highly recommended. Any decaying vegetable or animal matter 

 contains a certain amount of nitiogen. The free use of animal 

 products, as dried blood, oi- " tankage," is not to be advised, for 

 these fertilizers may contain large amounts of chlorine, to which 

 element, we have before seen, the tobacco plant is extremely sensitive. 

 The use of available stable manure and cotton seed meal should 

 furnish the basis for the nitrogen supjily and the deficiency be made 

 up by the use of nitrogen salts. 



Potash may be added to the land in the form of ashes from 

 wood fires. These ashes will have their value largely impaired if 

 exposed to rains and allowed to leach before being placed on the 

 field. In cotton oil mills the hull of the seed is used as fuel for the 

 lioilers, and the ash left is of considerable value as a fertilizer foi- 

 the supplying of potash and phosphoric acid to the soil. The potash 

 fertilizers employed usually come fi'om the mines of Germany. 

 They consist of a niimbei- of different salts, several of which, as 

 " kainite," contain large amounts of chlorine in the form of common 

 salt which would be injurious to the quality of the tobacco. High 

 grade sulphate, sold undei' a guarantee to contain no chlorine at all, 

 is one of the best forms to be used for the tobacco crop. The very 

 liiest fertilizer is the carbonate of potash, foi' this salt contains no 

 elements injurious to the crop. It will neutralize the evil effects of 

 the injurious elements already in the soil, and its presence will be 

 greatly beneficial to the burning qualities of the tobacco. 



Ground "loone and ground phosphate rock are two of the foi'ms 

 in which phosphoric acid may be applied. When these have been 

 treated with sulphuiic acid they are known as dissolved bone and 

 superphosphate. The use of the acid makes the phosphate more 



