N0VEMBEE. 



159 



THE PREPARATION OF HOME-GROWN TOBACCO. 



A cokeespondent having inquired how to prepare home-grown Tobacco 

 for horticultural purposes, we are favoured with the following valuable com- 

 munication on the subject by Mr. Barnes, of Bicton : — 



We sow the seed of the true Virginian Tobacco on a gentle heat in the first 

 week in May, and prick off the young plants into pans, boxes, or pots, as soon 

 as they can be handled, an inch apart, placing them again in a little heat in 

 frames or shelves in some of the houses, making use of light, rich, open soil. 

 By the time the flower-garden plants are turned out, plenty of small 60-pots 

 are at liberty to pot-off singly the required batch of plants, which are again 

 placed thick together in a little warmth for a few days ; then placed to harden- 

 off in some of the temporary structures where the flower-garden plants had 

 previously been. Hardened-off by the middle of June they will become strong 

 plants, and fit to plant out of doors on any well-trenched well-prepared ground. 

 By August the plants will be from 4 to 5 feet high, the bottom tier of leaves 

 large, and the first three or four tiers in good order to gather. They should be 

 tied up in bunches of eight or ten, and hung up to dry gradually in the tool- 

 house, where a gentle smouldering fire is kept, by using any kind of slow- 

 burning refuse. The door and window being kept shut, in about eight or ten 

 days the sap is found to be enough evaporated to store the bunches of leaves, 

 tightly pressed, into boxes or old hampers. They should be very firmly 

 packed by pressing or treading, and placed away in a dry shed or loft till 

 wanted for use ; and if put away in good condition, it will be found on being 

 taken out for use very sweet, oily, and perfect for cutting up, either by a 

 chaffcutter, billhook, or knife, according to quantity required for use. We 

 continue collecting a batch of leaves in succession of about a week or 

 ten days till the middle of October, when the plants have arrived to 7 or 

 8 feet high, when we make a general clearance of all the leaves, side-shoots, 

 and 3 or 4 feet of the summit of the stems, blossoms, seed, and all. They are 

 tied up, bunched, dried, and packed away when dry. Three or four feet of 

 the large bare part of the stems and roots are then pulled up and dried in open 

 lofts or sheds, bundled or faggotted up and stored in a dry loft to smoke the 

 Apple orchards, with other rubbish, in the month of April and May, which 

 adds wonderfully to the success of a general crop of Apples. The ashes are 

 stored while dry in old casks, boxes, or dry sheds, to dredge fruit trees of any 

 kind subject to moss or lichen, which it very soon exterminates when applied 

 as we do in damp, rainy, or foggy weather, or early morning with heavy deAV. 

 We always give the Gooseberry and Currant bushes a couple of good dredgings 

 first as soon as the buds begin to expand ; then again as soon as the Goose- 

 berries are set, or as large as small Peas. If we do not catch a dew, fog, or 

 rain, at the right time, we take an engine and damp the bushes. The dredging 

 is soon done.^ Neither aphis nor caterpillars ever trouble us ; if they do 

 attempt, we give them notice to quit by another and prompt dredging. It 

 also agrees wonderfully with the health and vigour of the trees. 



Bicton Gardens. James Baenes. 



Muscat Hambttkgh Gkapes.— When in Scotland the early part of Octo- 

 ber, I looked in at Dalkeith to see Mr. Thomson ; and in a house of late Grapes 

 just ripening, in which are some remarkably fine examples of Lady Downes' 

 Seedling, I noticed several unusually large bunches of Muscat Hamburgh just 

 colouring ; and as they are very much larger bunches than I have met with 

 before, I trouble you with a notice of them. They are from grafted plants, and 



