MARCH. 
67 
sized pot will admit. By tliis time if tlie weather is dry the plants may stand out 
of doors in the full sun, with plenty of coal ashes under the pots to prevent worms 
from getting in ; he careful not to overwater before the pots are full of roots, 
after which time some good weak manure water will be required about once a-week. 
A pinch of snuff, or the point dipped in tobacco water occasionally will be necessary 
against the green fly. 
By August the plants will be ready for the final shift, the strongest into eight 
and seven-inch pots, and the last batch probably will do with six-inch, using the 
same compost; I should have mentioned, at the last shift place some of the rough 
soil over the drainage, some of the rotten dung, and a little soot, the latter both 
for the good of the plants, and to keep worms at a distance. Keep the plants 
full in the sun until the heavy autumn rains, then raise a frame on bricks leaving 
the bottom quite open and lights constantly off, except in heavy rain. Have good 
tall sticks to the shoots and tie very loose, or as they grow the tie breaks the 
shoots. There will be probably a few blooms open by the middle of September, 
and continue opening in succession through the winter and spring ; keep them in 
a cold pit as long as possible. If damp spoils the flowers, remove to a dry green¬ 
house ; and if the flowers do not open fast enough, put a few plants in succession 
into heat. When opening, a light tie of fine matting round the flower prevents its 
bursting. 
I find the above plan far preferable to growing the same plants for several 
years, and being at the trouble of planting out in the summer and increasing by 
layers, I also get finer flowers, and the plants never get unsightly. I will ask any 
of your lady readers if there is a greater pleasure than to have a handful of 
Carnation flowers for New Year’s-day, either for a flower-glass, where they will 
last in beauty and scent for many days, or with Camellias and Violets as a bouquet 
for a ball-room. Be careful never to admit hares or rabbit in the vicinity of the 
plants. 
Teddesley, Stafford. James Taplin. 
ON GROWING AND PREPARING TOBACCO. 
I noticed with some interest Mr. Barnes’s account of growing and preparing 
Tobacco at page 159 of last year’s volume. Of late years I have grown the pale¬ 
flowering variety of the Virginian Tobacco in a similar way to that so well 
described by Mr. Barnes, except that I pinched off the head of the plants when 
they are about 2 feet high, which causes the leaves to grow much larger than 
when the stems are allowed to run to seed ; and instead of the leaves being “ tied 
up in bunches of eight or ten, and hung up to dry gradually in a tool-house where 
a gentle smouldering fire is kept,” I pierce the stalks of about the same 
quantity of leaves with a strong needle, and draw a thread through them, before 
they are hung up in a vinery to dry. I received the hint of stringing the leaves 
loose from a gentleman who had seen them so managed in Jamaica. When they 
are tied up tight the bunches are apt to turn mouldy, and if not quickly seen to 
the whole crop is spoiled. The shade of a vinery is very suitable for drying 
Tobacco, which afterwards should be pressed into a box to make it sweet; other¬ 
wise it will be of inferior quality like that of other countries, where the leaves are 
dried upon the stems hung up in a dry shady place. I may note that there is 
a general idea that one must not grow Tobacco in this country beyond a few 
plants by way of curiosity. But an exciseman told me that the law only forbade 
the drying or manufacturing of Tobacco, and he also observed I had done that 
so well that he might lawfully seize it. If so, Mr. Barnes runs still more risk by 
possessing a crop from “ bundled or faggoted-up stems enough to smoke Apple 
orchards.” This, however, may be only idle talk, for I never found that smoke 
from dried Tobacco stems had so deadly effects upon insects as Mr. Barnes states, 
which may be owing to their containing less nicotin (the poisonous principle 
of Tobacco), than the leaves; and after that is burned out of the stems I 
doubt if their ashes will destroy Gooseberry caterpillars, much less their 
chrysalids. There are many remedies put forth against these pests. One is 
