202 GARDEN CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 
a very powerful odour of Tobacco, which is traceable at a considerable distance. Th 
odour affords proof of the healthy condition and aromatic strength of the herb, I ! 
does also the large size and full colour of its pink, funnel-shaped flowers, that ai 
borne on axillary shoots, and are very ornamental. 
Before we detail the processes which, under our own management, were found 
be successful, it will not be irrelevant to refer to the culture of Tobacco in Americl 
as affording a standard of comparison which some persons may turn to advantage. 
“ The plants are raised on beds early in the spring, and when they have acquire 
four leaves they are planted in the fields in well-prepared earth, about three fee 
distance every way. Every morning and evening the plants require to be looke 
over, in order to destroy a worm which sometimes invades the bud. When four c 
five inches high they are moulded up. As soon as they have eight or nine leave:! 
and are ready to put forth a stalk, the top is nipped off, in order to make the leave 
longer and thicker, by diverting all the energies of the plant to them. After this, th 
buds which sprout from the joints of the leaves are all plucked, and not a day ia 
suffered to pass without examining the leaves, to destroy a large caterpillar which i 
sometimes very destructive to them. When they are fit for cutting, which is know 
by the brittleness of the leaves, they are cut with a knife close to the ground, an 
after lying some time are carried to the drying shed, where the plants are hung u 
by pairs upon lines, having a space between them that they may not touch on 
another. In this state they remain to sweat and dry. When perfectly dry th 
leaves are stript from the stalks, and made into small bundles, and tied with one o|. 
the leaves. These bundles are laid in heaps and covered with blankets. Care i 
taken not to overheat them, for which reason the heaps are laid open to the air fron 
time to time, and spread abroad. This operation is repeated till no more heat i 
perceived in the heaps, and the Tobacco is then stowed away in casks for expoi 
tation.” — Encyclopedia of Plants. 
It has been stated above, that the Virginian species is to be preferred; th 
common “ green f or N. rustica, with small and viscid leaves, must be rejected aj! 
worthless in this climate, and extremely difficult to dry and cure. 
The Virginian, on the contrary, is a noble and very handsome plant, and th<ji 
odour it diffuses under a hot sun leads to the conjecture that, if three or four were 
grown in large pots (No. 1,) of rich sandy loam, and retained in a conservatory o 
spacious greenhouse, they might act as a preventive of the aphis. The thought has 
casually occurred, and though no proof can be cited, it might be prudentially 
acted on. 
Tobacco is equally tender and impatient of frost as the Potato, but if once brought 
into vigorous growth, it becomes firm and strong as the Sunflower. The seeds arej 
small, and should be sown about the middle of March in a pan just below the surface 
of extremely fine soil, employing the gentle, rather moist warmth of a hot-bed or 
propagation house. The seedlings should be sprinkled or dewed with the finest 
rose of a watering-pot, and as they grow, must be thinned to regular distances. 
