ovember 1 1 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
33i 
TOBACCO CUTTING, HOUSING, CUEING AND 
PREPARING TOBACCO POP* MARKET. 
Harvesting begin3 early in July and oontinues with- 
out iutei mission to September. The time of day 
preferred for cutting is from 2 o'clock in the afternoon 
until nearly sundown, because at that time tobacco 
is less linble to be blistered by the heat of the sun. 
The instrument used for cutting is a hatchet, the 
plants being cut off nearly on a level with the ground 
and laid back on the rows to wilt. After wilting 
they are speared on laths. Of the large seed leaf 
varieties only about six plants are put on a lath, but 
of the smaller Spanish or Havana varieties ten are 
not considered too many. After being speared on 
the laths, the latter are carefully put on a long wagon 
frame made for the purpose and carried to the 
sheds, where they are arranged on the tier poles or 
racks from six to ten inches apart, according to the 
size of the plants, but never so close as to permit 
them to toucb each other. 
It requires six weeks to cure; the Spanish varieties 
perfectly, and two weeks to cure the seed leaf. If 
the weather is dry after the crop is housed, the 
doors are kept closed during the day and opened at 
night, but extreme care must t>3 taken not to cure 
too rapidly. In muggy, sultry weather, as much 
air as possible should be given ; thorough ventilation 
being indispensable to prevent pole sweat. Continuous 
damn weather or continuous dry weather are both 
to be feared It is believed by many good growers 
that white veins are the result of a drouth after the 
tobacco has been harvested, and it is said that no 
crop cured when there's plenty of rain is ever af- 
lected with them. Inferences of this kind, however, 
are too often drawn without cjnsideriug a sufficient 
number of cases to warrant the enunciation of a 
general law. It is a well established truth, however, 
deduced from the universal experience of the culti- 
vator of seed leaf tobacco in evjry State, that a crop 
cannot be well cured without the alternations of 
moist and dry atmosphere. 
From the 1st of September to the 1st of January 
is the usual period for preparing the crop for market. 
The usual practice among farmers is first to strip 
the leaves from the stalks, tying them up in large 
bundles and assorting afterward. A few assort directly 
from the stalk, but " table assorting " or assorting 
after stripping, is preferred by the most painstaking 
farmers. After the tobacco h s been carefully assorted 
into three or four grades, generally first wrappers, 
6econd wrappers, fillers and binders, it is tied in 
"hands" of from eighteen t> twenty leaves securely 
wrapped with a leaf at the butt end, and ' bulked " 
or "'banked" in piles, with the heads out and tails 
overlapping in the centre of the bulk. Here it re- 
mains until the fatty stems are thoroughly cured, 
when it is ready for market, unless the grower prefers 
to pack it in boxes himself . The selling goes on all 
the winter, and even up to May. In all the towns, 
aud vilages of any considerable size in tobacco-growing 
regions there are established what are known as 
warehouses, where dealers buy, pack and sweat the 
crop, preparatory to offering it in the markets, — 
Tobacco Plant. 
FERTILISERS FOR PLANTS. 
For no one manure can the same amount of 
infallibility be asserted, for none can so universal an 
application be proclaimed as for So-and-So's cosmo- 
politan pills. Every gardener, too, knows, what the 
public appears not to realise in the case of physic, 
that a manure which may be excellent at one time 
or for one plant, maybe useless or even injurious at 
another. Gardeners, too, are often made to pay an 
exorbitant price for aa article otherwise good. This 
was made apparent some years since, when we published 
a series of analyses of popular manures and insecti- 
cides. All of these proved good in their way, but 
the prices charged were iu most instances extremely 
high. Any village chemist capable of compounding 
a prescription for a cow can mix a preparation suitable 
for plants under different circumstances, but as an aid 
to gardeners and others we cite the following from 
a recent number of the Jardin. They or something 
equivalent have often been cited before, but the 
proportions of the several ingredients have not always 
been stated in so convenient a fashion. Dr. Jeanuel's 
prescription, containing, as it does, notable proportions 
of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash is of general 
utility, though, indeed, the amount of potash iu the 
soil is rarely deficient : — 
Nitrate of ammonia 380 parts. 
Diphosphate of ammonia 300 „ 
Nitrate of potash 260 „ 
Diphosphate of lime 50 „ 
Sulphate of iron 10 „ 
1000 
For flowering plants in pots the following mixture 
is recommended : — 
Superphosphate of lime 4 parts. 
Sulphate of lime 2 „ 
Nitrate of soda § „ 
Sulphate of ammonia § „ 
Chloride of potassium J „ 
For foliage plants in beds: — 
Superphosphate of lime 4 parts. 
Nitrate of soda 3 ,, 
Chloride of potassium 1 „ 
Sulphate of lime ... 1 „ 
300 grammes (say § lb.) to bo used per square yard 
at the time of planting. By citing it in this fashion 
the quantity to be made may be large or small. M. 
le Marquis de Paris recommends for foliage plants 
iu pots : 
Nitrate of soda 1 part. 
Sulphate of ammonia 1 ,, 
Superphosphate of lime 2 „ 
Sulphate of lime „ 
Chloride of potassium \ „ 
For flowering plants in beds : — 
Nitrate of soda 2 parts. 
Superphosphate of lime .... ... 10 „ 
Chloride of potas slum ... ... £ ,, 
Sulphate of lime 4 „ 
Of these mixtures a teaspoonful should be used in a 
gallon of water once a week. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
PALM KERNEL OIL. 
We take the following from an investigation by E. 
Valenta, on palm kernel oil aud its composition : — 
The seeds of Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis melano- 
cocca, from the fruit flesh of which palm oil is 
obtaiaed, contain the variously formed brown, often 
veined kernels, which through pressure or by extrac- 
tion with solvents furnish the palm kernel oil which 
is largely employed in the manufacture of soaps. 
Formerly the seeds were not utilized ; later on the 
negroes of the Mombattu Lands prepared an impure 
oily fat from them by breaking the shells and filling 
the kernels in earthen pots, which they buried in 
the earth and built a fire over them. In this way 
a part of the fat was tried out. Afterwards the 
seed were brought to Europe, where they were treated 
in numerous factories specially constructed for this 
purpose. The oil is obtaned by grinding and pressing, 
ot by extracting the meal of the palm kernels. 
The oil cakes, after pressing, still contain about 10 
per cent, fat, but these are often subjected to some 
extraction process by which the fat remaining iu the 
cake is reduced to 1 per cent. The de-oiled palm 
kernel meal contains considerable quantities of protein 
compounds, and the ash phosphoric acid and potash. 
The palm kernels, according to their origin, show a 
very varying percentage of oil ; according to Schaedler, 
it varies from 40 to 62 per cent. Dut even in kernels 
from the same source variations in the percentage of 
oil are found. Several years ago Valenta examined 
two simples of so-cdled Sherbro kernels and found 
them to contain 43 to 48 per cent. 
On account of the large quantities of albuminoids 
aud vegetable gums which the. crude palm oil coutnius, 
it is often subjected to a refining process, by which 
