744 Notes on the Cultivation of Tobacco 
the land is turned up in ridges about 12 inches high and 
20 inches from crest to crest ; as soon as the first frosts appear, 
the liquid refuse of the distillery is turned into the furrows ; 
in the spring the ridges are split and the tobacco planted in 
the usual manner. If the supply of distillery refuse falls short, 
it is supplemented by oilcakes to the extent thought necessary. 
In this case the land was cultivated upon a three-course shift 
of (1) Tobacco, (2) Beetroots, (3) Wheat ; and the crop of 
beetroots regulated the quantity of distillery refuse available. 
But almost wherever tobacco is grown, from the Netherlands to 
the United States, great faith is placed in the value of sheep- 
dung. On this point I may quote American opinion, as expressed 
in the recently published ' Statistics of Agriculture ' for 1880 
(p. 244, of the chapter on " Tobacco Production in the United 
States ") : — 
" The cause for feeding so many sheep for their mutton in this valley 
(Connecticut) is the high value of sheep-manure for tobacco-growing, it 
having the eflect on our light soil to produce a dark-coloured silky leaf, of 
good burning quality, suitable for wrapping fine cigars. This tobacco burns 
white, and has a good sweet flavour, perhaps owing to the potash it derives 
from the manure. So valuable do we consider this sheep-manure, that we 
have shipped, since 1870, from AVest Albany, from 50 to 60 cords,* costing 
from $8 to $10 a cord, every spring. On our light soils, called pine lands, 
after raising crops of tobacco, 2000 lbs. to the acre, we have sown wheat, 
yielding 30 bushels, plump berry and heavy weight of straw, on land which, 
without this dressing of manure, is fit only for white beans. We of late 
years feed with our sweetest and finest hay, and mix with our corn one-third 
cotton-seed meal. By so feeding, our sheep fatten more easily, being more 
hardy and better conditioned, beside increasing the value of the manure and 
rendering more full of plant food." 
Against this statement, however, I should mention that in 
some northern light-land districts, such as portions of the " Pas 
de Calais," the use of sheep-dung is believed to give too dark a 
colour to the tobacco-leaf, and thus seriously to depreciate its 
value. On this account the use of rape-cakes as manure is 
much preferred. 
With regard to the prevailing opinions in New England on 
the influence of other manures on the tobacco-crop, the reporter 
for New England remarks as follows : — 
"There is a considerable contrariety of views expressed respecting the 
effects produced upon the quality of the tobacco by the ajiplication of the 
several fertilizers. In some of the schedules returned to this oflice from 
intelligent growers, it is strongly stated that heavy manuring is not only 
necessary to grow heavy crops, but that in the heaviest crops is found tlie 
largest projwrtion of excellent leaf. Others claim tliat heavy fertilization, 
while it adds unquestionably to the quantity produced, yet affects the quality 
injuriously as to texture, strength, and .silkiness. These contradictory state- 
* A cord weighs about 2 tons. 
