740 
Notes on the Cultivation of Tobacco 
The quantity of manure indispensable for tlie crop depends upon its kind 
and condition, as well as upon the nature of the soil. It is sufficient to say 
that the land for tobacco should be manured the same as (or wheat. 
When the work is done by hand, small mounds should be raised, the bases 
of which should be between 2 and 3 feet in diameter. In the last working 
by the plough large ridges should be raised similar to those made when a 
vineyard is to be planted. These take the place of the mounds. 
When the land has been thus prepared and the seedlings have reached 
the proper height and strength, the next step is to plant them. This should 
be done after rain, as it is necessary to have every facility for taking up the 
plants with all their roots and rootlets, together with a small portion of earth, 
and then to place them in soil which will not dry them up. In the case of 
dry weather, the seed-bed or nursery must be well watered as well as each 
] ilant when pricked out. Care should be taken not to water too much at once, 
as it is better to water twice. 
Planting out is dune in the ordinary way by means of an ordinary planting 
stick ; the plant is then buried up to the first eye, that is to say, up to where 
the leaves begin to sprout. Then, with the aid of the dibble, the earth must 
be pressed tightly round the roots. When the mound system is adopted, a 
jilaut is placed in the middle of each mound ; when the land is in ridges and 
furrows, the plants are placed about 2 feet apart, so that they form a quincunx : 
the 2>oorer the land the forther the plants must be put apart. Sometimes a 
late frost kills the j'oung seedlings, in which case they should be replaced by 
those kept in reserve in the seed-bed. 
The tobacco field should always be kept free from weeds, weeding being 
done as often as is necessary ; it should at least have three weedings, the 
times depending on the state of the field. 
When the plants have attained the height of about 1 or foot, which 
they do about six weeks after plantation, they are ridged up like maize and 
jiotatoes ; this operation can be performed with a hoe, a narrow spade, or any 
other appropriate implement. When the plants begin to show blossom-buds, 
these must be picked off with the fingers, as well as the growing point, so that 
there remain only twelve or fourteen leaves. The plant is then reduced to 
the height of about 2 feet. Small .shoots soon grow out from the axils of the 
leaves and should he pinched off as soon as they appear, so that the sap may be 
entirely concentrated in the leaves ; this last is the chief object of the 
cultivation. 
To obtain seed, a few plants in the field are left untouched. Very few 
must be left if the seed is not for sale, as one good plant yields enough seeds 
to sow an " arpcnt " (about 1\ acre). The most vigorous and the oldest plants 
of the first plantation should be reserved for seed, and not those which have 
replaced others. In Holland, all the leaves of the seed-plants arc picked oft" as 
they grow, so that all the sap may rise to the seed. The seed-plants afe not 
gathered until the seed-cases become black. They are then cut and hung to 
the roof of a shed or room until spring. The seed improves in quality and 
keeps well in the capsules. As for the plants which have been nipped in 
order to furnish the true tobacco, the leaves are ready when they begin to 
lose the vivid green which characteiises them, and acquire a slightly yellow 
colour. They then droop, diffuse their perfume to some distance, and become 
covered with small s^wts, while tlieir margins break very easily in the 
fingers. 
'i'he leaves do not all ripen at the same time, therefore they cannot all be 
gathered together, but the bottom leaves are gathered first and then gradually 
the upper ones. For this reason, in some districts, there are three distinct 
qualities, the best consisting of the top leaves. In the best establishments 
each quality is kept apart Irom the other. 
