322 



[April 1908. 



DRUGS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



HINTS FOR TOBACCO GROWERS. 



By C. Drieberg. 

 The following notes which should 

 prove useful to all cultivators of tobacco 

 are chiefly based upon a very practical 

 bulletin issued by the Agricultural 

 Bureau of the Philippines, and will be 

 embodied in a leaflet to be issued in 

 English, Sinhalese and Tamil : — 



Soil. — A fine sedimentai'y or alluvial 

 soil is calculated to raise the best to- 

 bacco. A rich dark soil containing a 

 good deal of lime produces a rank 

 growth and dark leaf ; a light sandy soil 

 as a rule produces a thin and small leaf 

 of light colour. Trifling differences in 

 soil show marked influence on the 

 quality of leaf. Soil preparation should 

 be thorough. 



Manure. —Tobacco rapidly exhausts a 

 soil. Nitrogen is best supplied by a 

 leguminous crop such as cow pea, green 

 gram, etc., which should be grown on 

 the land and ploughed in. Tobacco 

 stalks which contain about 3'5 percent, 

 potash should, if possible, always be 

 returned to the soil. 



The following mixture is reeom~ 

 mended :— Coconut poonac seven parts> 

 double supherphosphate of lime one 

 part, tobacco stems and waste twelve 

 parts. This should be applied at the 

 rate of about 15 cwts. per acre. Where 

 tobacco stalks etc. are not available the 

 potash is best applied in the form of 

 sulphate. Kainit and chloride of potash 

 (as well as common salt) are not recom- 

 mended as they produce a leaf that does 

 not burn freely owing to the chlorine 

 they contain. 



Seed.— There should be two or three 

 nurseries sown at intervals of 15 days. 

 The seedlings should be brought to a 

 very vigorous condition before trans- 

 planting. Always " burn" when prepar- 

 ing a nursery. The young plants like the 

 ash, which keeps them free from fun- 

 goid diseases. To keep ants from attack- 

 ing seed when sown, mix the seed with 

 corn meal, one ounce seed to one pound 

 meal. The meal will occupy the ants 

 till germination of the seed when it 

 loses its sweetness. After sowing, the 

 soil should be pressed down with a 

 heavy plant or light roller, and covered 

 with bamboo brush to prevent splash- 

 ings when rain comes. 



Distance of Planting.— This is a very 

 important matter. Distance will depend 

 on nature of soil and the purpose for 

 which the leaf is required. By planting 



close and giving attention to cultivation 

 of the soil and to manuring so that the 

 lower and middle leaf leaves tearing 

 shade, each other, or thin leaf free from 

 heavy veins, which when cured properly 

 should be lustous and elastic is produced. 

 This result is brought about generally 

 at the expense of flavour which, how- 

 ever, is not of any importance in the 

 case of a wrapper for which such leaves 

 are essential. 



For filler tobacco the distance would 

 be greater. For instance, while tobacco 

 for wrapping might be planted as close 

 as feet each way, filler tobacco being 

 on average placed 3j feet each way, or 

 at the rate of 3,850 plants per acre. 



Cultivation.— Soil preparation should 

 be very thorough and after cultivation 

 should be perfectly clean, so that con- 

 tinuous tillage is necessay. Where, as 

 in Ceylon, tobacco gardens are not very 

 large, the Planet Junior type of cultiva- 

 tion for hand power will be found in- 

 valuable. Tobacco, being a shallow- 

 rested plant, takes the bulk of its 

 nourishment from the top layer of soil, 

 so that frequent shallow cultivation is 

 necessary to keep the moisture near the 

 surface in dry weather. 



Insect Enemies.— To keep the tobacco 

 worm in check, it is recommended that 

 an occasional plant of datura should be 

 planted out with the tobacco. A few 

 drops of honey or syrup poisoned with 

 cobalt and placed in the tubes of the 

 flowers attracts and kills the dusk-flying 

 moth in great numbers before they 

 deposit their eggs. 



Topping. — This is a very important 

 operation. Speaking generally, topping 

 should be done in inverse ratio to the 

 vigour of the plant, i.e., a weak spindly 

 plant tree should be cut heavily 

 back, so that all its strength may be 

 circulated in the production of a few 

 (say 6) good leaves ; while on the other 

 hand a strong robust plant will merely 

 require the tip to be pinched, so that it 

 may perfect almost all its (say a dozen) 

 leaves. The plant which carries many 

 leaves will generally produce thin and 

 elastic leaves, while heavy topping as a 

 rule induces large coarse heavy veined 

 leaves full of essential oil and resin. The 

 finest tobacco is produced by topping and 

 suckering, i.e., at the time of topping any 

 sucker starting from the lower stem is 

 cut back and the lowest two or three 

 leaves also removed. The removal of 

 these latter as well as the top suckers 

 concentrates the growth on the central 



