404 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1889. 
only means of securing the Cuban kird of Tobacco. Fre- 
quent supplies of seeds should be regularly supplied as it 
is apt to deteriorate if grown too long in one district. 
Method of Sowing the Seeds. 
Tare must be observed in sowing the feeds that they 
are evenly scattered on the soil, for if they be thickly 
sown the young plants will spring up too closely and 
will be so delicate and tender that they will not staud 
transplanting. To secure the seeds being evenly 
scattered they sho Id be mixed with dry fire fa'th or 
sand. If when the eed is sown ic does not rain the soil 
must be mo'stened with a fiop-rosed watering-pot, rais- 
ing the hand as hi^h as possible so that the water may 
bury the seeds, being careful at the same time that 
the water does not wash away or throw tbe seeds 
together. The seed should be sown a month and a 
half before the seedlings are required for planting, 
for at the end of this time they should be fit for trans- 
planting. The proper sowing season is from the middle 
of August up to the beginning of October, on such a 
day as it is likely to rain. Should it not lain the soi 
must be watered as before explained. 
Cake or the Nursery. 
When the leaves of the seedlings are about the size 
of a sixpenny piece or a shilling piece, the corn and 
branches of the trees left must gradually be cut away 
so that tbe young plant may become gradually accus- 
tomed to the heat of the sum, preventing by this means 
the risk of their perishing when transplanted. 
The Nursery must be frequently weeded to prevent 
exhaustion of the soil and weakening the seedlings. 
The weeds must be rooted up with the hands, being 
careful not to injure the seedlings. Whenever the 
Nursery is weeded or seedlings have been removed for 
transplantation fresh seeds should be sown in order to 
a'ways have a supply of seedlings. According as the 
shade is taken away tbe supply of water to the seedling 
should be, in like manner, diminished. If insects be 
noticed in the Nursery, it should be slightly watered 
with lime water, sufficifntly diluted so as not to 
burn the seedlings, and the larger grubs destroyed 
every morning by hand. The seedlings to be fit for trans- 
planting mu«t have six leaves, and these leaves of the 
size of a half dollar piece. Before roo ing up the setd- 
Iintrs foj transplanting, if no rain occurs, the ground 
should be properly wetted to facilitate their extraction 
with all their roots. They should be slightly shaken to 
remove some, of the earth attached to their roots. In 
taking out seedlings for t'ansplanting the fingers should 
be carefullv put down to the root in order to avoid 
breaking the stalk. 
will afford sufficient shade to the tender plants (thes« 
will h ive to be removed later on). The land should 
he prepared loi-g and narrow and with a Nirih- 
ea'-terly or South-easterly exposure. The land should 
now be swept with a broom made of the thin branches 
of trets or boughs so as to remove away all rubbish, 
etc., from it. The soil should be slightly hoed, and 
the rubbish arising from this hoeing swept and thrown 
sway also. The soil is now ready for sowing the see K 
2. On cultivated soil it is preferable to select the 
plot as level as possible, but if it should l e too much 
on the incline it must be drained byjmeans of tienches 
dug at the sides of the Nursery to preveut rain water 
from running into it and carrying away the seed. 
This should also be doi e to Nurseries on newly- 
cleared land. The si edlings will thrive much btt er 
if it should be that the land has been used the year 
previous has a hor:e or sheep-pen, pig-stie, or dung- 
hill. The soil is prepared for sowing the seed just 
the same as on virgin soil. 
3. Whether on virgin or on cultivated soil the seed 
may lbe sown in beds. The method of procedure is 
asfllows: — In the month of May the Eoil is ploughed, 
and immediately af er it is hoed, an i then cov' red 
with a layer of vegetable rubbish, sue has dry glass, 
etc. A few days after, when weeds have sprung up, 
the rubbish is burnt for the purpose of dtstroy- 
iug all insects and grubs which ^inftst decaying vege- 
table matter, and left in this state 1 i 11 weeds again 
spring np. Another layer of vegetable rubbish is put 
on and burnt as before, and a couple of days after 
this last burning the soil is hoed and ihe beds made. 
They should be above four feet in breadth and of any 
desired length, though for convenience in walking 
through the Nursery they may be made about ten feet 
in length, tbe pathways along and across the beds 
being about half a yard in width. Th«; height of the 
beds should not be more than one inch above the 
level, having long wattles placed at tbe edges or 
borders of the beds sav staked by pegs driven down 
at tbeir t x re s ities so as to support the earth. Corn 
is then planted in th" midd'e of tbe beds, two grains 
per hole, and each hole two feet apart. Near the time 
of sowing the seed the soil is chopped with a cut- 
lass without injuring the corn. Corn preserves the 
moiture of the soil and protects the young plant 
from tbe rays of the sun. If when the seedlings 
spring up the corn has ears, they should be picked off, 
for they damage the seediings. 
4. A Nursery can be made so as to be at the same 
time a Tobacco field. It is done as follows: — The land 
is cleared of trees, the boughs and rubbish burnt 
and corn immediately planted on tbe land. Previous 
to sowing the seed, the earth is chopped and pre- 
pared as explained for beds. The seed is sown as 
usual, but when tbe plants are fit for transplanting 
they should be thinned out where two many grow 
together, and those taken out planted where there are 
few or none at a regular distance from each other as 
on a field. The Tobacco grown by this method yields 
more leaves than by being transplanted to a field, 
possessing besides the advantage of their beiDg finer 
in texture and of a better colour. The after-culti- 
vation and curing is identical to that planted other- 
wise. The Cuban planter calls the Tobacco so grown 
" Criollo" (Creole). This is generally done in tbe 
Nurseries after planting in the field is finished, but 
is never ad<p'ed as a regular system of culture, 
because there is no uniformity in the quality of the 
leaf and the quantity produced per acre. 
The Seed. 
1. Among the most important points in Tobacco 
culture is ihe selection o f the seed. It should be 
taken off tie most healthy an 1 perfect plants, and 
when proper'y np -, that is, when the stedpod blacken. 
Tbe plants selected for se d should be left uncut and 
should not of curse be 'topped," and ail suckers 
plucked off. The seedpods on their stalks should be 
thoroughly dried Mid then hung up in bundles for some 
length of time. It is preferable, to rub out the seeds 
cf the pods, winnow and put i; to well-covered demi- 
johns, jars, or glass bottles. The seeds sown the first 
year ou#ht to be imported directly from Havana as the 
Chapter III. — Planting and Preparation of 
the Land for Planting. 
The proper month for planting is September, but 
if inundation of the land be expected, planting should 
commence in November. 
We have noticed in various works on Tobacco Cul- 
ture that artificial manures are highly recommended. 
We believe that by this means the Tobacco can be 
made to yield larger leaves, according to the quality 
of the artificial manure, but it can never be obtained 
possessing the aroma and other qualities essential to 
Smoking Tobacco. The only application admissible 
is that of lime, which should only be used wheD the 
soil is very much exhausted. In the Island of Cuba, 
the Smoking Tobacco produced is doubtless without 
a rival in the world, and there manuring with arti- 
ficial manures is never practised, as the experience 
of the Tueha-ahajo planters a few years since proves 
clearly the disadvantages attending such usage. It 
should be remarked that the manure used was Peruvian 
Guano. The crop obtained during that short period 
suffered greatly in its quantity and quality, so much 
so that the planters of Vuelta-abajo have given up 
altogether manuring with such foreign matters. The 
best method of preparing the soil for planting is the 
following, which is that employed in Cuba, the manure 
used being purely vegetable, with the exception indi- 
cated, viz.. lime. 
