156 
FIRST BOOK. 
one day went into the room while he was smoking, 
and, thinking his master was burning, he threw 
a pail of water over him to put out the fire." 
TOBACCO.— II. 
1. ''If you want to see the fields of tobacco- 
plants, you had better visit Temple Hall," said 
Mr. Hill. 
2. ^'You know that as a cigar burns it leaves 
a great deal of ash. Whatever this is made of 
has been taken out of the soil by the growing 
plant. So you may be sure that, where tobacco- 
plants grow, the ground quickly becomes poorer 
and poorer. They are greedy feeders, taking 
very much plant-food out of the earth, and a 
light soil, which has in it the remains of plants 
that have rotted, suits them best." 
3. ''What are the tobacco-seeds like?" asked 
Fred. 
" They are as small as grains of sand, and are 
plentiful," said Mr. Hill. "The seed-vessel in 
which they grow is a capsule^ and this bursts into 
holes when the seeds are ripe, to let them out. 
4. "It is the leaves, however, that we value, 
and every planter tries to get them to grow as 
large as he can, and, at the same time, such as 
will give good tobacco after they have been cured. 
