610 



DBUaS, ]S^A,HCOTICS, ETC. 



close towards eacli otlier between the fingers, draw them up, and place them 

 in a basket or some other convenient thing to receive them for planting. 

 After taking up those that can be planted during the day, water the nursery 

 that the earth may again adhere to the remaining ones. The evening is the 

 best time for setting out the plants, but where a large field has to be cultivated 

 it will be well to plant both morning and evening. The plants set out in the 

 morning, unless in rainy or cloudy weather, should be covered immediately, 

 and the same should be done with those planted the evening previous, should 

 the day open with a clear sunshine, — the palmetto leaf answers the purpose 

 very well. There should be water convenient to the plants, so as to have them 

 watered morning and evening, but more particularly in the evening, imtil they 

 have taken root. They should also be closely examined when watered, so as to 

 replace such plants as happen to die, that the ground may be properly occupied, 

 and that all the plants may open as nearly together as possible. 



From the time the plants are set out, the earth around them should be 

 occasionally stirred, both with the hand and hoe. At first hoe flat, but as soon 

 as the leaves assume a growing disposition, begin gradually to draw a slight 

 heel towards the plant. The plants must be closely examined, even while in 

 the nursery, to destroy the numerous worms that feed upon them — some, by 

 cutting the stalk and gnawing the leaves when first set out ; these resemble 

 the grub- worm, and are to be found near the injured plant, under ground ; 

 others, which come from the eggs deposited on the plant by the butterfly, and 

 feed on the leaf, grow to a very large size, and look very ugly, and are com- 

 monly called the tobacco-worm. There is also a small worm which attacks 

 the bud of the plant, and which is sure destruction to its further growth ; and 

 some again, though less destructive, are to be seen within the two coats of the 

 leaf, feeding as it were on its juices alone. The worming should be strictly 

 attended to every morning and evening, until the plants are pretty well grown, 

 when every other day will be sufficient. The most proper persons for Avorming 

 are either boys or girls from ten to fourteen years of age. They should be made 

 to come to the tobacco ground early in the morning, and be led by inducements, 

 such as giving a trifling reward to those who will bring the most worms, to 

 clear it thoroughly. Grown persons would find it rather too tedious to stoop 

 to examine the under part of every leaf, and seek the worm under ground : 

 nor would they be so much alive to the value of a spoonful of sugar, or other 

 light reward. Beside, where the former would make the search a matter of 

 profit and pleasure, it would to the latter prove only a tedious and irksome 

 occupation. Here I will observe, that it is for similar reasons that the culture 

 of the Cuba tobacco plant more properly belongs to a white population, for 

 there are few plants requiring more attention and tender treatment than it does. 

 Indeed it will present a sorry appearance, unless the eye of its legitimate pro- 

 prietor is constantly watching over it. 



When the plants have acquired from twelve to foui-teen good leaves, and are 

 about knee high, it may be well to begin to top them, by nipping off the bud 

 with the aid of the finger and thumb nail (washing the hands after this in 

 water is necessary, as the acid juices of the plants, otherwise, soon produce a 

 soreness on the fingers), taking care not to destroy the small leaves imme- 

 diately near the bud : for if the land is good and the season favorable, those 

 very small top leaves will in a short time be nearly as large, and ripen quite as 

 soon as the lower ones, whereby two or more leaves may be saved ; thus ob- 

 taining from 16 to 18 leaves, in the place of 12 or 14, which is the general 

 average. As the topping of the tobacco plant is all essential in order to pro- 

 mote the growth, and to equalise the ripening of the leaves, I would observe 

 that this operation should at all events commence the instant that the bud of 

 the plant shows a disposition t) go to seed, and be immediately followed by 

 removing the suckers, which it will now put out at every leaf. Indeed, the 

 suckers should be removed from tho plant as often as they appear. The to- 

 bacco plant ought never to be cut before it comes to full matm'ity, which is 

 known by the leaves becoming mottled, coarse, and of a thick texture, and 

 gammy to the touch, at which time the end of the leaf, by being doubled, will 

 break short, which it will not do to the same extent when green. It ought 



