TOBACCO, 



615 



The following is an analysis of the ashes of Havana tobacco : — 



Salts of potash . . . . .24-30 



Salts of lime and magnesia . . . . 67"40 



Silica ....... 8-30 



100. 



Hayti exported in 1836 . . . 1,222,716 lbs. 



Porto Rico, in 1839 . . . . 43,203 cwt. 



The French hare been so successful in cultivating tobacco, iu 

 their possessions in Northern Africa, that thej hope soon to be 

 independent of the foreign grown article. The mode of pre- 

 paring it, however, is not very well understood by the colonists. 

 In 18ol, the number of planters in Algeria was only 137, whereas 

 in 1852, it was 1,073. The number of hectares under culture with 

 the tobacco plant was 446 in 1851, and 1,095 in 1852. The total 

 of the present year's crop is estimated at 1,780,000 kilogrammes, 

 of which 700,000 kilogrammes have been grown by the natives, 

 and the rest by Europeans. 



In the province of Algiers alone, the quantity of tobacco sold 

 will amount to 550,000 kilogrammes, which is nearly three times 

 as much as in 1851, and an equal progression has taken place in 

 the provinces of Oran, and Constantina, 



The cultivation of tobacco in Algeria has proved most success- 

 ful ; in 1851, only 264,912 kilogrammes were produced ; in 1852, 

 the quantity had risen to 735,199 kilogrammes. There are two 

 crops in the year, the first being the best, but even this is capable 

 of almost indefinite augmentation. 



CrLTURE or TOBACCO IN THE EAST. 



Having touched upon the practice of culture in the western 

 world, we will now bend our steps towards the east, and it may 

 be curious to notice the method pursued in cultivating and curing 

 the celebrated Shiraz tobacco of Persia {Nicotiana Persica), which 

 is so much esteemed for the delicacy of its flavor, and its aromatic 

 quality. It is thus described by an intelligent traveller. The 

 culture of the plant, it will be seen, is nearly the same ; it is only 

 the preparation of the tobacco that forms the difference : — 



In December the seed is sown in a dark soil, which has been slightly 

 manured (red clayey soils will not do). To protect the seed, and to keep it 

 warm, the ground is covered with light, thorny bushes, which are removed 

 when the plants are three or four inches high ; and during this period, the plants 

 are watered every four or five days, only however in the event of sufficient rain 

 to keep the soil well moistened not falling. The ground must be kept wet until 

 the plants are six to eight inches high, when they are transplanted into a well 

 moistened soil, which has been made into trenches for them ; the plants being 

 put on the top of the ridges ten or twelve inches apart, while the trenched 

 plots are made, so as to retain the water given. The day they are transplanted, 

 water must be given to them, and also every five or six days subsequently, un- 

 less rain enough falls to render this unnecessary. "When the plants have 

 become from thirty to forty inches high, the leaves will be from three to fifteen 

 inches long. At this period, or when the flowers are forming, all the flower 

 capsules are pinched or twisted off. After this operation and watering being 

 continued, the leaves increase in size and thickness until the month of August 



