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Mode of Cultivating Tobacco in the Island 
of Cuba. 
Your nurseries are the first to be attended to, 
in your prep iraiion for a crop, by selecting at the 
proper season a rich and tolerably moist piece of 
new ground, and prepare i' by burning it off very 
clean, and breaking it up. The seed is then to 
be sown broadcast upon it, and when they are up, 
they are to be overlooked daily, to see that the 
cut-worm does not commit ravages among the 
young plants ; and as fast as the plants arrive at 
a proper size, they are to be transferred to the 
Tobacco field, to make room for the smaller plants 
of the nursery. As casualties frequently arise to 
destroy some of the nurseries, it is necessary to 
guard against a probability of not having a suffi- 
cient number of plants, by making three or four 
nurseries, at an interval of one or two weeks each. 
Much attention should be observed to keep both 
your nurseries and field very dean, particular. y 
of grass, and for that reason new lands are pre- 
ferred for both. In Cuba, they plant on an even 
surface, and disturb it as little as possible with 
the hoe, only picking out the grass or weeds 
which spring up. The plants, when transferred 
to the field, are to be planted in squares, at about 
from two to three feet apart, according to the 
strength of the land. The high lands in Cuba 
are such as produce the quality of Tobacco, both 
as to strength and color, that suits the .American 
market best, and such lands correspond nearest 
to our high hammocks. The greatest enemy to 
the plants,, both in the nursery and in the fields, 
(while small,) is the cut-worm, which has to be 
looked after early every morring, and wherever 
they have eaten the plants, they are to be found 
and killed, either on the plant cr on the ground 
near it. When the plants get to be larger, then 
the lame green Tobacco- worm is to be constantly 
guarded against, and the suckers also continually 
broken ofi as fast as they appear, and when the 
Tobacco is judged to be of a sufficient height, it 
is to be topped and allowed to mature for cutting. 
The time of maturity is ascertained by the leav’es 
changing gradually their color, beginning at the 
bottom leaves, from their deep green growing 
color, to a yellowish green ; but if this is not suf- 
ficiently obvious, a td you deepi your Tobacco 
ripe, you may test it by crushing together the tip 
of any of the upper leaves, which, if it snaps, is 
a sign of it= beingripe; but on the contrary, if it 
does not snap, it is not fully matured. VVhm 
ripe for the knife, it is cut down near the ground, 
leaving twm suckers, which have been spared a 
week or two prior, ready to grow up and produce 
a second crop, and also a third crop may be real- 
ized in the same manner. The Tobacco is to be 
conveyed carefully in wide thongs of cowhide to 
the house, to be hung up; a shed is preferred, 
with free space for ventilation beneath, and after 
tying the plants together, two to each string, and 
leaving space enough between them to insert a 
wooden peg, you hang them up, by intruding 
them above each rafter up to the ridge of the 
house, being careful not to hang them so near 
that they v.ill touch or crowd each other in dry- 
ing, or your Tobacco v^dll mould, .-f Iso when the 
weather is moist, you must make small fires 
enough under it, to keep out the moisture, but 
not enough to heat your Tobacco. When the 
leaves are perfectly arvq the whole are to be taken 
down, and placed in a press for a few hours, the 
object of which is, if the Tobacco is too dry to 
strip off without breaking the leaves, that they 
may become soft and pliable, but great care must 
be taken that it does not heat, and it must be 
strictly examined, by inserting the hand to ascer- 
tain that it becomes not too hot. The press is 
made by putting rails or poles crosswise of each 
other, in form of a rack, and placing cow-hides 
under, over and around theTobacca, and placing ' 
upon it something somewhat weighty. It is then ■ 
to be stripped le^ by leaf from the stock, and ‘ 
being selected, the wrappers from the fillers, to i 
be tied at the butts, and prepared for market. It 
is sometimes usual to put it again in press after | 
being stripped. — Floridian. ! 
Tamiing on the Flaiitatiou. i 
Tanning leather, for the use of the plantation, 1 
is an item of good management that should not j 
be overlooked by any planter. 2sor would it be j 
as much overlooked as it is, if the simplicity of 1 
the process was generally known — that process, 
I mean, that will suffice' for making leather for 
home use. Th ' tanner by profession, in order to | 
prepare an article that will command agood price 
in market, and have a merchantable aopearance, 
puts the hides and skins through a greater num- 
ber of manipulations; and, that he may work to 
better advantage, has his arrangeraenls on a more 
extensive scale. 
' The vats, tools, and implements really needed, 
are few and simple. Four rafs wall generally be 
found all-sufficient ; one for a pool of fresh water, 
and for baiting, ■ one iox liming ; another for coZor- J 
ings and a fourth for tanning. The best size, in > 
the clear, is seven feet long, four and a half feet ; 
wide, and five feet deep. They should be placed ' 
so as to be easily and conveniently fi led with j 
water from a spring, running stream or cistern. ; 
Dig the holes 9 feet, by and 6 ; if the founda- ! 
tion is day, the depth need not be over 5 feet. } 
Fonn a stiff bed of clay mortar in the bottom, on j 
w'hich to la}’' the floor, and on it erect the sides 
and ends of the vat, of plank of almost any kind, 
sufficiently thick to resist the pressure from with- 
out — two inches will be thick enough. When 
this is done, and the tvhole nailed fast, fill in the 
vacant space round with well-tempered clay mor- 
tar, ramming it effectually : it is on this, and not 
the planks. That dependence is placed for render- 
ing the vat perfect. When well made, a vat will ’ 
be good for a lo'og lifetime — the ooze preventing i 
the decay of any but the top round of plank, j 
Such a vat will hold 1-5 large beef hides (30 sides,) 
besides a number of small skins. 
The material used for tanning, is the bark of ' 
the red or black oak, stripped when the sap flows 1 
in the spring, stacked and dried — of which, about ' 
four pounds are supposed to be necessary to pro- . 
duce one pound of leather. There is an article ' 
occasionally used, called catechu,'’ whichis an i 
extract made from the wood of a mimosa-tree, a 
native of India, half a pound of which answers 
the same purpose. Galls, ttrillow bark, the bark 
of the Spanish chesnut, and common elm, as 
also suntach, am all used by the tanner. It has 
been recently found that the root of the palmetto 
answers an equally good purpose with the best | 
oak bark. 
Bark has to be ground as wanted ; or if the ' 
quantity needed is small, and it is not thought ad- , 
visable to incur the expense of a bark-mill (from : 
■SIO to -SIS.) it may be pounded in a large mortar, ' 
or beat up on a block. It will require one third i 
more of pounded than of ground bark, to afford , 
equally strong ooze, which is the infusion of bark, i 
The principal tools requisite, are a fieshing- j 
knife, currier's knife, n brush like a stiff horse- ! 
brush, and a Jlishing-beam. The fleshinor-beam i 
is made by splitting in two a hard-wood slick of | 
about a foot in diameter; inserting two stout | 
legs, some thi'ty inches long, in one end of the i 
split side, so that the other end rests on the ; 
ground, with the round side up, the elevated end ! 
being high enough to reach the workman’s waist, i 
A fieshing-kniie may be mads by bending an old 
dfaw-knite to suit the round of the fieshing-beam. 
The skins of bulls, oxen, cows, and horses, are 
called Ziirifs; those of calves, deer, sheep, &c., 
are known ns skins. 
Fresh and dried hides receive the same treat- 
ment, except in the washing process. Those that 
are sailed and dry (and no hide should be dried 
with less than from two to four ouarts of salt be- 
ing rubbed on the flesh side — dried without salt, 
it is extremely difficult to soften them,) require to 
be steeped, beaten, and rubbed, several times al- 
ternately, to bring them to a condition sufficient- 
ly soft for tanning. 
Green or fresh hides must be soaked in pure 
wafer from 12 to 24 hours, to extract all the blood, 
& c., and soften the extraneous fleshy matter, 
which must then be removed — throwing one hide 
at a time on thefleshing-beam, grain or hair-side 
down, and scraping or shaving off with the flesh- 
ing-knife, which must be somewhat dull, or the 
skin is apt to be cut. They are then put in the 
liming-vat, which is supplied with strong lime- 
water, by filling the vat a little over half full of 
water, and adding thereto four bushels of un- 
slaked (or of air-slaked) lime, or at the rate of 
two-thirds of a bushel of lime to the barrel of 
w'ater. This will suffice for fifteen hides ; each 
time that they are removed and a fresh lot of 
hides put in, add another bushel of lime, which 
will keep up the strength for a twelve month. 
Before using, stir the lime well up, and whileit is 
thus mixed with the water, put in the hides even- 
ly, so that the li.me will settle on every part of 
them. They are to remain here from ten to fif- 
teen days, or for three or four days after the hair 
will rub off with the finger completelv and with 
ease. While in the liming-vat, they must be 
moved up and down every other morning, to ex- 
pose them to the air, and to the equal action of 
the lime. Being now ready for unhairing, cut 
each hide in twm, by slitting them along the centre 
of the back with a knife, forming them into sides. 
Throw ten or twelve of these sides on the flesh- 
ing-beam, and strip the hair off with the knife; 
and as they are unhaired, throw each one into the 
vat of fresh water to bait or soak. When the lot 
of sides and skins in hand have been all unhair- 
ed and thoroughly washed, throw them again, 
and at once, on thefleshing-beam, with the grain 
or hair side up, and icash them over (rub and press 
them.) with the knife until all the gummy or 
mucilaginous matreris worked out. This should 
be repeated two or three times during ten or 
twelve days, being each time baited anew in fresh 
water. And this working over must only be done 
when the sides feel soft and smooth to the touch ; 
as they will at times, from some unexplained 
cause, feel rough, at which time they' must notbe 
worked over. While they are thus baiting, they 
must sot be neglected, or they will soon spoil. 
Tanners are in the practice of adding lOCOth part 
of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) to the last bait, 
which has the effect of swelling the pores and 
distending the fibres, and thus rendering the 
skins more susceptible to the action of the ooze ; 
forty-eight hours generally suffice for this last 
baiting. 
In the meantime, some good strong oo-c should 
be prepared for the first tanning process, called 
coloring. Fill a vat a little more than half full cf 
water, and add bark, in the proportion of one and 
a half bushels of ground, or two bushels ofpound- 
ed bark, to the barrel of wate’, which will bring 
the v’at up to about two thirds full. When the 
bark has soaked from four to five days, the sides 
are put in, and allowed to remain fifteen days; 
duiinaf which they must be once well and careful- 
ly dfes-ried and worked over, and must be drawn up 
and down every morning, for the first week at 
least, and the bark well gZunged or stirred up, to 
have them color evenly. 
After this, the vat being now two thirds full of 
this same ooze, after drawing out the hides, lay a 
