204 
GARDEN CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 
i 
summits, when growth has attained its maximum. However, the gardener shou 
try experiments, and render himself master of his subject, taking ornament as wt 
as utility into due consideration 
We now presume that the leaves are fully developed, and perfected by tl 1 
maturing sun of July and August ; when, therefore, a little flaccidity and change 
tint are discovered, all leaves so affected should be cut off, close to the stem, and tl 
midribs pared off with a very sharp knife to nearly a level with the under surface of tl 
leaf-plate. They are then to be strung and suspended in pairs, over a line stretche 
under an airy shed till the sap be carried off or absorbed. At that time the leav( 
will become dry and lax, but not by any means brittle ; they are then to be rendere 
as flat as possible, and laid in that position in a box to which a lid is adapted that wi 
exactly fit and drop in upon the herb. The practical man will soon discover thath 
must collect his leaves successively, because many will have attained the require 
condition long before the time when growth shall have ceased ; however, enough 
will be collected to ensure a moderate degree of fermentation under a gradus 
pressure, which should be increased by an increased weighting of the superpose 
board. 
As leaves so obtained have never yet been found sufficiently pungent, we bay 
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 fina 
pressure. Thus, supposing 500 leaves to be collected by the end of September, an<| 
by gradual drying and pressure to have become pale brown, with a sensible odour o 
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 straigh 
and single in the boxes, receives its proportion of these materials. A little cart 
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 Aphides begin to intrude, a copious supply will be obtained, and of 
quality sufficient for direct fumigation by the bellows, or to be burned in pots, anc 
finally for the preparation of steeping liquor by infusion in boiling water. 
Tobacco-paper may also be prepared by soaking the stoutest porous brown papei 
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 prudeni 
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. 
