differs in this respect.from cutting leaf (for 
chewing) or snuff leaf. When tobacco designed 
for cigars is grown in poor land, the leaves are 
usually small and frequently as yellow as saffron. 
It is therefore impossible to grow a fine cigar 
leaf on soil devoid of fertility. In Massachu¬ 
setts a large amount of Havana seed-tobacco is 
being grown this season. The plants are grown 
from seeds imported from Cuba. This variety 
justly stands at the head of all cigar-loaf to¬ 
baccos, and its exportation from the island ex¬ 
tends to all parts of the world. It is impossible 
to grow as fine a quality of leaf in the Valley as 
in the “ Pearl of the Antilles,” but we can ap¬ 
proximate it rathor closely in quality if suffi¬ 
cient pains are taken in securing fresh seed and 
allowing the plants to thoroughly ripen. Only 
about half as much can be secured from an acre 
as of Connecticut seed-leaf, but it sells for 
double the prico, and sometimes fine selections 
command very high prices. In Massachusetts 
three-tenths of the growing crop this season are 
of this variety and its growth is eagerly watched 
by all of the leaf packers and cigar manufactur¬ 
ers in the country. If tropical varieties of this 
manufacture, is one of the most interesting 
and promising. This plant, Bcehmeria nivea, 
is a perennial, of the nettle family, of the order 
Urtioaccoj, growing to the bight of four feet, 
and throwing up numerous stems, and as thick 
as the little finger. It originated in the East 
Indies, but has been introduced into Jamaica, 
Mexico, California and Australia, with success, 
and recently into some of the Gulf States, where 
CAKE OF VILLAGE REFUSE. 
The farmer’s greatest want is manure for his 
exhausted lands. To obtain this economically, 
near by him, and know its character, that he run 
no risks, are the all-important necessity. His first 
that was partially covered with hay. For near a 
quarter of a mile the farmer had carefully mow¬ 
ed the sides of the roadway and raked the grass, 
weeds, etc., into tho middle of the road. The 
owner of this farm was a yonng man whom I 
never saw at a Farmers' Club, and I strongly 
suspect he is not a subscriber to the Rural. 
On several other farms I passed, tho road-sides 
were mowed and the grass lying there. In this 
county stock is not permitted to run at large on 
tho highways, and in many places the grass 
would be well worth taking to tho barn for fod¬ 
der, and where too many weeds or other rough 
material are mixed with it for hay, it is welt 
worth gathering for litter aud manure, and care¬ 
ful farmers, who take agricultural papers, do 
ntilize it in preference to buying doubtful phos¬ 
phates. 
Pig-pens, with the hogs kept in them the year 
round, are excellent places to make manure in. 
Last year I had six pigs in a pen, and I supplied 
them with all kinds of material for them to work 
up into fertilizers—leaves from the woods, 
all sorts of weeds, grass aud rubbish from the 
truck patch and road-sides, potato-tops, straw, 
etc., aud in the fall I drew out eighteen one- 
horse cart-loads of pretty good manure, although 
the pens had been cleaned out iu early spring of 
the same year. A neighbor of miuo, who buys 
phosphate, has his pig-pens by the side of a 
public road, along which I often pass, and I find 
his pen littered with stones. I never heard of 
this man taking an agricultural paper, and fear 
he would uot were I to urge him to do so. but I 
shall try him with the Rural. Many farmers 
waste a groat deal of their manure, after it is 
made, by exposure in an uncovered barn-yard 
during summer. s ‘ g 
the hber is said to be superior to that produced 
in China. 
Unlike the common nettle, it has no stings, 
lias fertile flowers which, instead of two to 
five-parted calyx, have a tubular calyx which 
closely surrounds the small nut-like fruit. It 
has opposite pointed serrate loaves, six inches 
long by four inches broad, and long, hairy 
petioles, the upper surface dark-green aud tho 
under surface covered with a white dowu sug¬ 
gestive of the specific name — nivea — snowy, 
making tho contrasts botween the two surfaces 
very marked. The inconspicuous flowers are in 
little clusters upon axillary stems. 
One species, Bcehmeria oyHndrica 
resource is the saving of everything upon his 
farm, not merely iu returning straw and all kinds 
of green manure to tho laud, to be dried up, or 
burned up in the sun aud blown away, but in 
composting and rotting until it is so dissolved 
or pulverized, or in other words, “digested," 
that the roots have nothing to do but to suck np 
the food they require. When the resources of 
tho barn-yard, the out-houses, aud the swamps 
and woodlands, and roadsides are exhanstod. the 
nearest additional supply is usually at the out¬ 
skirts of largo towns, or in smaller villages, and 
here the farmer can readily find enough aud the 
best food for his < 
The refuse lying around almost 
ROOTING CUTTINGS IN AUGUST, 
The following is a description of my me 
season. It is done iu an upright frame the size 
of a hot-bed sash, aud six inches deep. The 
long sides project about six inches to form feet, 
aud the back is hoarded up. In tho middle of it 
arc shelves two inches wide, leaving two inches 
space in front and the same behind These 
shelves are slightly hollowed out, gutter-like, to 
about one inch on either side. In each is a half- 
inch hole, one a half inch off from; one end. 
These holes are lined with a piece of" tube, like 
bout zinc, protuding one-half inch below. There 
compost heap and for his orops. 
-j any dwelling 
m the outskirts of towns, especially those of tho 
poorer classes, who do not seem to value tho 
beuefits of a healthy atmosphere, of * ; sweetness 
aud light,' wilt give tho farmer ample reward 
for cleaning up thoroughly and hauling it away, 
and the inmates will hardly object to tho opera¬ 
tion. 
Of course, there are a great many kinds of 
refuse which the farmer can obtain if on tho 
lookout for it, some of which from manufactur¬ 
ing establish neuts, he may have to pay a small 
sum for, but thid is generally butter thau paying 
for unknown commercial fertilizers. The organ¬ 
ization of scavenger companies should be en¬ 
couraged by the town authorities of every village 
or city, aud every facility afforded for cleaning 
the parts of the town not thoroughly cared for 
by tho occupants. Cuss-pools and water-closets 
should bo systematically constructed, and so as 
to allow of tho easy application of deodorizers 
of any kind and a frequent thorough cleaning. 
This neglect is the great waste of the country at 
this time, and its perfect utilization is the source 
of great benefit to exhausted lauds as well as of 
health to the town's people. No other expense 
of deodorizing is needed than burned peat, or 
any very dry or burned earth, and that not in 
large quantities, but just sulficiont to render the 
operation not di>agreeable. Any company which 
could obtain from a city of no more than live 
thousand inhabitants the exclusive right to clean 
the city and be authorized so to do, would have 
the foundation of a profitable business, aud would 
bo doing the people of the town as well as the 
farmers a great benefit. 
, a coarse 
nettle-like wild plant, is native to, and very 
common in moist, shady places in the United 
States. Another variety, Bcehmeria tenacissima, 
is sometimes cultivated, bnt is a more robust, 
coarse plant, and tho under surface of the leaf 
is scarcoly whitened. 
The Ramie plant may be raised from the 
seed, but the more common practice is to break 
up and transplant the parts of tho old roots. 
The grouud requires to be rich, whore the finest 
fiber is desired to be produced, and well drained, 
although it stands drought aud moisture remark¬ 
ably, and in California it thrives best where ir¬ 
rigation is practiced. Three crops a year aro 
easily grown iu the Gulf States, the seooud 
growing quickest, being host, and tho yield is 
1500 lbs. of fiber to tho aero each cuttiug. The 
plants are set iu rows four to five feet apart, 
aud close togethor so as to produce slender 
sti sight plants. Little care is required after 
the plants are once set. The crop is cut wheu 
the b talks begin to turn brown. At the bottom 
the useful part is the fiber, or inner baric, and it 
is stripped from the stems in two long pieces, 
and cleaned of extraneous matter and dried aud 
assorted according to the character of tho fiber. 
Tho greatest drawback to the cultivation is 
the want of machinery for preparing tho liber 
for the different uses required ; this is done by 
picking to pieces by hand in the East Indies, 
and it is a tedious process. The East Iudia Gov¬ 
ernment has offered a prize of $25,000 for the 
best machine for this purpose, to be presented 
by September, 1879. The fiber, known as China- 
WASTE OF MANURE ON THE FARM 
The subject of keeping up the fertility of the 
farm is of interest to every farmor, particularly 
iu the older States of tho Union, where many 
farms are becoming more aud more exhausted 
by constant croppiug, without a sufficiency of 
fertilizing matter being returned to the land. 
Many thousands of dollars have been expended 
for artificial fertilizers iu these parts, yet only a 
few Tarms have boon improved in productive¬ 
ness within the last ten years. Many farmers, 
siuce tho introduction of the artificial fertilizers, 
have neglected proper attention to tho making 
and saving of manure about the farm ; where, I 
am satisfied from experience and observation, 
much more valuable fertilizers can aud may 
readily be made and applied at a less cost, by 
properly utilizing the waste material about the 
RAMIE CULTURE. 
The materials for a very large number of pro- 
, new industrial enterprises are lying un- 
iveloped in all parts of the United States 
