742 
Notes on the Cultivation of Tobacco 
further reduced to 16s. per 1000 plants in those cantons where 
the average yield is estimated not to exceed 5 kilogrammes 
(11 lbs.) ot' dry tobacco per 100 plants. 
Tobacco may be grown on almost any soil, but the results 
are never satisfactory on a stiff clay or a poor sand. Going to 
the extreme of suitability, it is generally considered that a rich 
loam or marl is the most favourable for this, as for most other 
cultivated plants. A large quantity of decayed vegetable 
matter in a soil renders it specially suitable for the cultivation 
of tobacco, which delights in the presence of slowly decom- 
posing manurial substances. This vegetable matter furnishes the 
necessary organic acids to unite with the potash applied as a 
manure, and thus gives the product the quality necessary for the 
purpose of enabling it to be manufactured into cigars. In 
America, newly cleared and charred forest-lands are preferred for 
the production of the finest quality of tobacco ; but this condition 
can rarely be obtained in a densely populated and highly culti- 
vated country like England. Next in importance to the quality of 
the soil are its situation and its hygrometric properties. Tobacco 
cannot flourish if exposed to high winds or to moisture at the 
roots. It is quite as sensitive to these influences as we are to 
draughts and wet feet. For these reasons the Dutch, who cul- 
tivate tobacco under most disadvantageous circumstances, plant 
out the seedlings on high ridges, and divide the land into small 
squares by live fences, as I shall describe hereafter. It may, 
indeed, be accepted as a general rule that tobacco cannot be 
successfully cultivated in the north-west of Europe unless, 
either by natural or artificial means, the old political cry be 
varied to " Shelter," " Shelter," " Shelter," and as such put into 
practice. If the shelter be natural, so much the better ; but if 
natural shelter does not exist, it must be provided artificially. 
It therefore appears that while tobacco leaves the grower a 
wide choice of soil, it is very exacting as to sit\iation and 
climate. All conditions may, however, be modified more or 
less by artificial means ; but with tobacco, as with many other 
agricultural and industrial plants, there are certain unknown, or 
at least undefined, circumstances which so greatly influence the 
quality of the product, that they alone determine the suitability 
of its cultivation for profit. In illustration of this point, I may 
again quote the adjoining French Departments of the " Nord " 
and the " Pas de Calais." I was everywhere told that the 
tobacco grown in the former Department was only fit for 
snufT, while that grown in the latter was good enough for 
cigars ! Here one has the Alpha and Omega, and the only 
explanation I could find was that the soil in the " Pas de 
Calais" is much lighter than that in the " Nord," except in 
