738 
Notes on the Cultivation of Tobacco 
part of France ; therefore the National Agricultural Society 
issued a pamphlet of ' Advice to Cultivators,' an abridged trans- 
lation of which I think it proper to insert here because : 
(1) Comparatively little alteration has since been made in the 
methods of procedure so far as the growth of the plant is con- 
cerned ; and (2) the pamphlet is in the French language, and is 
now exceedingly difficult to procure. 
Advice to Cultivators on the Growth of Tobacco in France* 
A decree of the National Assembly of the 12lh of February, sanctioned by 
the King, renders free the cultivation of tobacco throughout France. Although 
this plant is not one of those necessary to the life of man, nor very important 
on account of its consumption in various countries, yet the number of people 
in France for whom it has become a necessity is so considerable, that the means 
of increasing and bringing to jierfection its cultm'e siiould not be neglected. 
Therefore the Agricultural Society has gladly taken the very first ojiportunity 
of enabling all the agriculturists of the kingdom to benefit by this decree, by 
showing to those who do not already know, how to propagate and prepare the 
tobacco plant. 
The details in which we are about to enter have been taken from informa- 
tion received from several members and correspondents of the Society. 
The tobacco plant, like many others, is sown first of all in a nursery or 
seed-bed, and transplanted when strong enough. The nursery should be a 
hot-bed in the districts where the spring is cold, and simply a strip of garden 
land in regions where the beginning of that season is mild. 
Cultivators should consult gardeners on the method of making the seed- 
bed and on the degree of heat which it should possess when the seed is sown. 
Fresh horse-dung is generallj^ used ; but in default of that, cow-manure is 
employed, although it is not as good. To plant an " arj^ent " (about If acre) 
of land, i of an ounce of tobacco-seed is required, which should have a seed- 
bed 22 feet by 4. The soil must be from to 2 feet thick. The manure 
being well pressed, it is covered with 6 inches of earth composed of garden 
and leaf mould, or of garden soil only. The bed is surrounded with boards to 
support it and prop uj) the frame, if in a country where the latter is necessary. 
Two-year-old seed will germinate as well as that of one year, but an older 
seed cannot be relied on. In case of doubt, a few seeds can be sown as an 
experiment in a frame, or under a bell glass, or in a seed-bed. The sprouting 
of a few seeds may be hastened by placing them in a piece of linen, moistened 
from time to time and kept in a warm place. When the sprouts are from 
i to 5 an inch long, the seed may be sown, and very soon comes up. 
The time for sowing tobacco in France is from the end of February to the 
end of March. This plant being verj- sensitive to frost when j'otmg, as also 
when ajiproaching maturity, must be preserved from the frosts of spring, and 
must also be sown early enough to become ripe before the hoar frosts of 
autumn. A fine day should be chosen to sow the tobacco seed. The seed 
being very small, cither sand or earth is sometimes mixed with it to insure its 
being more equally distributed. As soon as sown, it should be watered with 
a very fine rose and covered with a very thin layer of finely sifted earth, so as 
just to cover the seed. 
A necessary precaution is to cover this seed-bed with some light straw, 
either newly threshed, or taken from the manure of an old seed-bed. The 
result of this covering is that the earth is not disturbed nor the seed washed 
* Published by tlie Koyal Agricultural Society of Paris, 1791. 
