Oct. 1, 1902.] THE TROiPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 233 
knowledge of the method of spread of parasitic disenBca 
and with prrgress in agiiculture. A. permanent 
legislative committee was appointed some ftw years 
ago to watch over and conirol matters relating to 
plant diseases, and this committee is in touch with 
the various local aiithoiities. This was tho le^iult of 
a "National Convention for the suppression of insect 
pests and p^ant diseases by Legislatioi:," held at 
Washington in 1897, and attended by some lifty 
agricultural and scieniilic experts. 
In Germany oflicial notice is annually given of 
examination for particular parasites, and these orders 
are carried out through the police authorit'es. In 
some of our own colonies, notably Australia and 
Canada, equally strict laws exist. Queensland has 
folly recognised the value of State aid to agriculture 
by giving it the best scientiiic advise, and by the 
"Diseases of Plants Act, 1896," of that Colony 
after enacting that certain importations of plants 
from places where diseases of these plants are pre- 
valent are prohibited, every nursery is required to be 
registered and regularly inspected by an cfticcr duly 
authorised by the Minister for Agriculture. In the 
event of the nursery being diseased, the officer 
notifies the nurseryman to take the necessary measures 
for the eradication of the disease, specifying the 
required measares in clear and easily intelligible 
language. For example in the case of fruit-fly 
disease the instructions are:— "All fallen fiuit of 
whatever kind, whether haibouriiig insects or not, 
shall be gathered at noon of each day, and all pest- 
infected fruit shall be submitted to the process of 
boiling or be buried beneath not less than 1 foot G 
inches of solid earth. The trees shall be sprayed with 
one of the following mixtures." (The methods of 
preparing the mixture and the number of and 
interval between the applications are given.) That 
in countries where personal freedom is so carefully 
guarded such laws should be passed and carried out 
without friction shows that the planters of these coun- 
tries are awake to the value of these legal enactments. 
There are difficulties in carrying out such laws, 
and it may be urged that the inspection would be 
costly and hard to carry out efficiently ; but these 
difficulties have been met with and overcome in 
human and veterinary sanitation, and even in plant 
sanitation they are not proving at all insuperable 
in countries where the system has been in force for 
some years. It is said that in Britain we are not 
yet ripe for this kind of legislation, and that popular 
opinion would disapprove of measures interfering 
with the freedom of tea cultivator. But history shows 
us that such arguments have been adduced against 
sanitary reform in men and animals. The effective 
carrying out of health regulations and the economic 
benefits which result have been the best answer to 
these objections. The Board of Agriculture could 
by means of existing data, easily satisfy itself and 
others that the coat of the introduction and admi- 
nistration of sanitary laws for plants was money 
well spent. A series of epidemics, causing great 
losses to farm crops and other plants, would no 
doubt produce a different feeling in the matter, 
but would it not be wiser to learn by experience 
Bheady gained, and not wait for further lessons 
from this expensive though effective teacher ? 
Looked at from the point of view of insurance 
against possible losses, or as an investment which 
will ensure ereater profits, plant sanitation should 
commend itself to the business man. It is the duty 
of those whose interests are at all affected bv the 
prosperity of agriculture — a fairly extensive class — 
carefully to weigh the evidence in other countries and 
Rt home in favour of sanitary methods for plants, and 
having convinced themselves as to their practical 
value, to lose no opportunity of furthering the cause 
of rlanta saiia in plantario tann, by inculcating the 
aims and methods of plant sanitation, and where 
advisable taking rreaus to obtain the support of 
the State. J. B. CARRUIHERS, 
^Qwtm^omy Beview l^t May, J902, 
MODERN MliiTHODS IN TOBACCO 
CULTURE. 
BY A. M. IIOWELB. 
Perhaps I can entertain and assist the farmers of 
Victoria, in the columns of ''The Australasian," by 
briefly outlining my experiences in tho culture of to- 
bacco. It may be proper that I should state, by way 
of introduction, that uiy training in the arts of grow- 
ing and curing tob.icco-leaf was acc^uired on the farm, 
in I he Southern States of America, where I was born 
and reared, and where the choicest of " bright '' aro- 
matic tobaccoes are grown. It may be added that in 
later yea':£ I have given close attention and study 
to the principles involved in both growing and curing — 
tiie really scientific principles that come within tbe 
easy grasp to the common run of intelligent farmerF, 
and this means no more nor less than the application 
of good commonsense, oi;ce you see the how and the 
why. These principles are few in number, but they 
are not to be trifled with if the grower is aiming 
at tobacco of good quality, that will bring the highest 
market price, wherever he may sell it. There are just 
a few important— it may be said absolutely important 
— points to be stri.;tly and rigidly adhered to, and these 
are : — 
THE MAIN QUESTIONS INVOLVED. 
1- Tiie selection of a suitable soil for the type of 
tobacco desired to be produced. 
2. The selection of a suitable variety or varieties 
of tobacco, looking likewise to the class and type 
desired. 
3. The cultivation of the crop, including the 
work of the plough and hoe, the prompt and dili- 
gent pruning of the plants, the extermination of 
insect pest."^, and all else lhac can be done to pro- 
mote the fullest expansion of the leaf. 
4. Preparations for curing and the harvesting of 
the crop at the proper stage of ripeness, looking to 
a uniform yield of ripe, mature leaf and to dcsira- 
able colours. 
5. The curing processes— the ultima thule of the 
tobacco-grower— how to produce bright and beauti- 
ful colours that at once captivate the tobacco 
manufacturer and command the highest market 
l)rice?, and pay the producer a good round prolit. 
6. The care of the leaf after it is cr.red, which 
means its preservation in sound condition, and the 
fixing of the colour, which may be lostorfaded or de- 
epened into other shades by improper management. 
7. Packing and marketing — in the local home 
market or abroad — with extreme care as to content 
of moisture and the possibility of dangerous 
absorption of moisture in the hold of the sliip. 
SUITABLE TOBACCO SOILS. 
In growing tobacco there is nothing more important 
than the selection of a snitable soil. This matter is 
co-important with curing the leaf. With the most 
skilful curing that can be done the influences of tbe 
soil are inevitably present. Proper curing will, of 
course, make the best that is possible of any leaf, 
grown upon any soil, but upon the character of the 
soil the grower must depend for the raw material out 
of which to turn out excellent cured leaf of any given 
class or type. To grow the cigarette leaf, for instance, 
upon a dark, rich soil is impossible. Such leaf is 
produced on a sandy soil of only very moderate ferti 
lity, and cannot be produced upon any other with any 
degree of certainty. With a good season — a year of 
satisfactory rainfall— the certainty would be tho 
reverse way — that fine cigarette Koods would not be 
the yield from a very fertile soil. Granville county^ 
in tbe slate of North Carolina, is famous for its pro 
duction of the finest types of bright tobacco, and 
they are grown upon poor sandy soils, so poor, in- 
deed, that, to use an expression common in the ver- 
nacular of that region, they will barely "' sprout cow 
peas." Soils of only medium fertility, containing a 
pi-edomioauce Pf sand, iu'« quc[aeatioq«^blf bes^ (9; 
