€>F THE DISTRICT OP CAVALLA, TURKEY. 75 



opinion that the plant cultivated in Turkey belongs to the species 

 Nicotiana macropliylla (Orinoco tobacco), particularly the somewhat 

 elongated Drama leaf ; but there can be no doubt that the Nicotiana 

 rustica, modified by climate and soil, is the parent of the tobacco which 

 flourishes in this district. The variety grown here is paniculated or 

 panicled {Nicotiana paniculata), the botanical term descriptive of the 

 peculiar form of its inflorescence. 



The ground is prepared for its culture in two ways — firstly, for the 

 germination of the seeds ; and, secondly, for maturing the transplanted 

 shoots. The seed is sown in beds or small plots of ground, set apart 

 in the plantation, and proportioned in dimensions and number to its 

 extent. The soil of these nurseries, previously highly impregnated with 

 manure — sheep or goats' dung being preferred — is well trenched with 

 an implement having two iron prongs, about nine inches long, set at an 

 acute angle to a short wooden shaft, and employed after the manner of a 

 pickaxe in breaking up and loosening the earth, and is brought to the 

 condition of rich garden mould. The fatigue of using this " digger" is 

 excessive, the shortness of the shaft obliging the husbandman to stoop 

 in a constrained position ; and it is a curious fact, that a people who so 

 much dislike hard labour have not yet devised an implement, like the 

 spade, to render their toil less irksome, and more expeditious. 



The beds are sown in February or March, and are afterwards covered 

 with a thick layer of sheep or goats' dung. The shoots appear above 

 ground in the course of a few days, and the precaution is then taken of 

 laying brushwood over them to preserve them against the frosts. Towards 

 the end of May the young plants are fit for setting in the fields. 



During winter the fields have been well manured with horse or cattle 

 dung, and repeatedly ploughed up. But still the ground is very imper- 

 fectly tilled to what it could be by means of less primitive agricultural 

 implements than are in use in this country. The plough is a piece of 

 crooked wood with one stilt, the share is only occasionally tipped with 

 iron, and it has no coulter. The slow-draft ox is the only help to man's 

 labour in the field. The harrow, roller, tormentor, &c, are unknown. 

 By such rude and imperfect appliances, the surface soil is barely in- 

 dented, and the rich sub-soils are never disturbed. 



During the first half of May, sheep or goats are folded on the fields for 

 the sake of their liquid manure, on a profuse application of which to the 

 soil depends the perfection of the growth. In the course of time the soil 

 of tobacco plantations consequently becomes highly impregnated with 

 ammonia and nitrate of potass, both of which are absorbed by the 

 plant ; the former influencing in a great measure, it is thought, the 

 aroma. Owing to the great absorption of the nitrate of potash by the 

 leaves, the tobacco, when ignited in the pipe, crackles and sparkles as if 

 containing gunpowder, and even bursts into flame when a strong inhala- 

 tion is taken. Minute crystals of this salt can be perceived on the sur- 

 face of the dried leaf. 



