204 
GARDEN CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 
summits, when growth has attained its maximum. However, the gardener should 
try experiments, and render himself master of his subject, taking ornament as well 
as utility into due consideration 
We now presume that the leaves are fully developed, and perfected by the 
maturing sun of July and August ; when, therefore, a little flaccidity and change of 
tint are discovered, all leaves so affected should be cut off, close to the stem, and the 
midribs pared off with a very sharp knife to nearly a level with the under surface of the 
leaf-plate. They are then to be strung and suspended in pairs, over a line stretched 
under an airy shed till the sap be carried off or absorbed. At that time the leaves 
will become dry and lax, but not by any means brittle ; they are then to be rendered 
as flat as possible, and laid in that position in a box to which a lid is adapted that will 
exactly fit and drop in upon the herb. The practical man will soon discover that he 
must collect his leaves successively, because many will have attained the required 
condition long before the time when growth shall have ceased ; however, enough 
will be collected to ensure a moderate degree of fermentation under a gradual 
pressure, which should be increased by an increased weighting of the superposed 
board. 
As leaves so obtained have never yet been found sufficiently pungent, we have 
generally introduced a very small proportion of the most powerful " returns " Tobacco, 
aided by a few grains of finely powdered saltpetre, among the leaves at their final 
pressure. Thus, supposing 500 leaves to be collected by the end of September, and 
by gradual drying and pressure to have become pale brown, with a sensible odour of 
Tobacco, twenty ounces of purchased Tobacco, and one-fifth that weight of nitre, 
(i. e. four ounces), will suffice for the whole quantity ; each leaf as it is laid straight 
and single in the boxes, receives its proportion of these materials. A little care 
and precision are required in this arrangement ; but if the pressure and curing be 
carefully conducted in a dry room during winter, not a leaf will decay, and by the 
time that Ajrfiides begin to intrude, a copious supply will be obtained, and of a 
quality sufficient for direct fumigation by the bellows, or to be burned in pots, and 
finally for the preparation of steeping liquor by infusion in boiling water. 
Tobacco-paper may also be prepared by soaking the stoutest porous brown paper 
in this infusion, made very strong, and with the further addition of a little more salt- 
petre, just enough to produce a slow touch-paper when dried. This paper is exceed- 
ingly pungent, so much so as to be offensive to the eyes : it would therefore be prudent 
to burn it in pots, and not in the bellows. Whenever a steep liquor is prepared, 
the Tobacco remaining will not be lost ; because, after being again dried, it can be 
used for fumigation, either in pots or otherwise. 
