194 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



it was stopped or closed at bottom, and com- 

 menced firing the tobacco, only setting up, or 

 rather propping some slab plank around, to pre- 

 vent the winds blowing the fire about. A day- 

 break fire was kindled under the tobacco, (a 

 very large lot,) attended by an experienced hand. 

 We had very weak fires at first, thinking only 

 to yellow and bring the tobacco to a proper con- 

 dition to cure ; but to my astonishment, by twelve 

 o'clock that same day, the tobacco was drying 

 up faster than I had ever seen before. There 

 were only three cart loads of seasoned wood at 

 the barn, and by sunset the leaf of the tobacco 

 was dry to the top of the barn, and but little 

 over half the wood burned. Next morning I 

 examined the tobacco and found it dried up, of 

 the same color as when fire was put ' under it ; 

 the stems were not dry more than half way. — 

 In consequence of its curing up so rapidly, it 

 was rather of a greenish color. T removed that 

 tobacco to another barn, and filled the same 

 barn immediately, still leaving the bottom as at 

 first, and commenced firing more cautiously than 

 before, but the effect was the same ; the tobacco 

 dried very rapidly, with as little wood burned. 

 I removed that to another barn, and filled the 

 same barn the third time, and the result was 

 the same. Now I began to think of the cause, 

 and finally came to the conclusion that it was 

 by ventilating the barn at bottom and having 

 two doors both kept open, only when the wind 

 required one or the other to be closed. I never 

 burn green wood under tobacco. There was an 

 old tight barn, twenty-four by twenty feet, filled 

 with tobacco, and it had only one door, and it 

 required six loads of wood and two days to cure 

 the tobacco in it. I wish others to try the plan 

 and see what will be the result. I have been 

 making tobacco forty years, and have tried many 

 ways to improve the article, and finally conclude 

 that the best way to profit by making it, is to 

 make a good article and that only, and from the 

 present condition of our lands that can only be 

 done by selecting proper soil and making it rich. 

 As to the process of curing tobacco, there is no 

 rule by whicti the planter is to be governed ; he 

 must vary according to circumstances, and ex- 

 perience is the best teacher. A great deal de- 

 pends on weather, the ripening, and the kind of 

 soil, so that no certain rule can be laid down 

 which can be followed ; one thing though is 

 certain ; to make good tobacco, the land must 

 be rich and free. Sun cured tobacco is highly 

 esteemed, but were we all to adopt that plan, 

 the supply would be too great for the demand. 



A word more to those who often fail in raising 

 plants. Clean out your hen house once a fort- 

 night, save the manure, carefully pick up all 

 the hog manure round about their beds, &c. ; 

 you will soon get enough to manure your plant 

 beds. Save all your hog hair when you kill 

 your pork; beat it fine, and sprinkle it over 



your bed after sowing, and the fly will rarely 

 touch the plants. Select moist land for plants, 

 burn early, make rich, and you will hardly ever 

 fail. 



N. B. — At least one-third of the Virginia to- 

 bacco is cut before it is properly ripe. If tobac- 

 co be really ripe when cut it is easily cured rich, 

 and of a good color. I have often let my to- 

 bacco stand a fortnight after my neighbors ad- 

 vised it to be cut. If tobacco is large, eight to 

 ten plants is the proper number to a stick ; 

 hang the sticks eight or ten inches apart while 

 curing. Let the tobacco yellow well before 

 cured, and it will be a good article. 

 Your obedient servant, 



Irby Hudson. 

 Bryder's Store, Va. } June 15, 1844. 



COLMAN'S AGRICULTURAL TOUR. 

 It will be remembered that we noticed about 

 a year ago, that the Rev. Henry Colman, of 

 Massachusetts, had undertaken the novel design 

 of making an agricultural tour in Europe, in- 

 tending to publish a journal of his observations, 

 for the benefit of the agricultural community 

 both here and there. We are indebted to the 

 kindness of a Northern friend for a copy of the 

 first number of this journal. We find that the 

 whole work will be comprised in ten numbers, of 

 at least one hundred pages each, to be issued suc- 

 cessively at intervals of two months. Terms. — 

 Five dollars — two dollars to be paid on the de- 

 livery of the first number — the other three on 

 the delivery of the fifth. We shall be very 

 happy to lend our assistance to any of our 

 friends who desire to obtain this work, who will 

 forward us the required sum for the purpose. — 

 The number which we have received is gotten 

 up in very beautiful style, ornamented with a 

 splendid steel engraving of the " English Cart 

 Horse." 



The high expectations which we had formed 

 from our own knowledge of Mr. Colman's abi- 

 lities, have not been disappointed in this number. 

 Being of an introductory character, it is more 

 general in its nature, and contains less of the 

 details of agriculture than we may hereafter 

 expect. But his descriptions of the agricultural 

 community of England are interesting and gra- 

 phic in the extreme. We think we clearly per- 

 ceive in this work evidences of the high inde- 

 pendence and impartial fairness, which have al- 

 ways marked the moral character of Mr. Col- 

 man. He is not blind to the elegance and re- 

 finement of the aristocratic classes, but he is 



