142 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
the Cultivator for, when I am closing up my farming 
career. I tell them because I am not satisfied with 
present attainments, and would take it still, if nothing 
but a garden to cultivate. G. D. Phillips. Coven¬ 
try, N. Y., March 11, 1854. 
Tobacco Culture in New-York. 
Mr. Tucker —In answer to the inquiries of your 
correspondent, J. A. of Canajoharie, in regard to the 
culture of tobacco in the northern states, I would offer 
the following facts, as coming under my observation, 
during three years experience in cultivating this crop 
in Onondago county. 
The kind of soil best adapted to the growth of this 
plant, is a sandy or gravelly one, which must be pretty 
highly manured; but any field, rich enough to grow a 
good crop-of corn, will give a fair crop of tobacco. 
The proper system of culture is, to plow your land set 
apart for this crop early in the spring. (It should be 
land that has had some cultivated crop grown on it the 
year previous, as experience has proved it to be better 
than green sward, and not as liable to be infested with 
worms, which sometimes do much mischief in the early 
stages of its growth.) Plow again about the time you 
are ready to set the plants, and harrow it well. The 
plants should be five or six inches high, grown in a bed 
in the garden, or other warm rich place—sown as soon 
as the frost is out of the ground in the spring. Sow 
the seed on the ground, and spat it down hard with the 
back of a spade, or tread it over with your feet. A 
bed ten feet square, is sufficient to raise plants for an 
acre. The time for transplanting is from the 10th to 
the 25th of June. The best time to transplant is im¬ 
mediately after a rain. If the ground is very dry, it 
will be necessary to water the plants as you set them. 
The ground should be marked in straight rows three 
feet apart, and slight hills 'made on these marks two 
feet six inches apart; then set the plants, which should 
be done well, taking cave to press the earth firmly 
around the roots. As soon as the plants are started to 
growing, run the cultivator through, and follow with 
the hoe, resetting where the plants are missing. The 
crop should be hoed at least three times at proper in¬ 
tervals, taking care to hoe the ground all over. When 
the tobacco begins to blossom, the tops of the plants, 
and the suckers also, should be broken off, with some of 
the smaller leaves on the top of the plant. The suck¬ 
ers should all be broken off at the time of harvesting. 
Harvesting commences the first of September, and 
ought to be finished by the middle of the month, as 
frost may be expected'by that time. The stalks must 
be cut near the ground, and left in the sun a short 
time to wilt the leaves, then taken to the drying shed 
and hung on poles by means of strong twine, at the 
rate of thirty to forty plants to twelve feet of pole. 
The poles are to be laid across the beams about sixteen 
inches apart. The sheds are built high enough to 
hang three or four tiers, the beams being about four 
feet apart up and down. In this way a building forty 
feet by twenty-two, will cure one and a half acres of 
May, 
tobacco. The drying sheds should be supplied with 
several doors on either side to allow the free circulation 
of air in order to facilitate the process of curing. 
It will be sufficiently cured in two or three months, 
when as much as is desirable is taken down in damp 
weather, laid in a pile, the buts of the stalks outward 
the leaves are then stripped off and done up in small 
hanks by winding a leaf around it near the huts of the 
leaves. It is separated according to quality, making 
three qualities. It is then packed in a snug pile, the 
buts outward to give them a chance to dry well. Then 
to finish the process, it is packed in damp weather in 
boxes large enough to contain three or four cwt. 
In the Country Gentleman of Feb. 23, 1854, J. A. 
will find an estimate of the cost per acre, of raising 
tobacco, to which estimate I should add about $10, 
making the expense of an acre of tobacco $77,50. A 
fair average yield per acre is 1,500 lbs. although 2,000 
lbs. is sometimes raised. It is worth from seven to ten 
cents per lb. Growers in this vicinity sold the crop of 
1852, for the latter price—the crop of 1853 is as yet 
unsold, but we expect to get as much as eight cents per 
lb. for it. 
The kind of tobacco grown here, is, I believe, called 
“ Connecticut Seed-leaf,” which is quoted in New-York 
city papers, at five to fifteen cents per lb. according to 
quality. I presume J. A. could procure seed in this 
place at trifling cost. Yours, L. Keith. Liverpool, 
March 6, 1854. - 
Dear Sir —Your correspondent will find a very com¬ 
plete essay on the Culture of Tobacco, in the Patent 
Office Report for the years 1849—1850. I have ex¬ 
perimented very successfully in that line, and can fur¬ 
nish him with seed of three or four different varieties, 
one of which is fresh—i. e., not raised here from for¬ 
eign seed, but the Cuba seed sent to me by a friend, 
direct from that Island. P. A. Way. Sewickley Val¬ 
ley , Alleghany county, Pa., March 9, ’54. 
Buckwheat and Indian Corn. 
Messrs. Editors —The article from “ Vermonter,” 
on the Culture of Indian Corn, agrees perfectly with 
my own experience relative to raising corn after a crop 
of buckwheat. Fifteen or twenty years ago, I raised 
buckwheat several seasons, by turning over the sod in 
the spring, and sowing to buckwheat. The following 
season it was planted with corn. Though the land had 
become very light and mellow from the influence of 
the buckwheat crop, yet I could not, and never did get 
a. decent crop of corn in this way. I came fully to the 
conclusion that the mischief-maker was the buckwheat. 
The expression of my father was, “ it poisoned the 
ground for corn.” I do not, like many others, conclude 
that it is one of our most exhausting crops. In my 
opinion it is quite otherwise. I continue to raise it, 
but put it on the same ground every year. I usually 
plow in the stubble late in the fall. I plow again a 
short time before sowing, and spread on a light coat of 
manure. This gives me a fair crop every year on the 
same ground. I think it quite valuable for feeding 
fowls, and mixed with other kinds of grain, for feed-, 
ing hogs. 
I have recently made an experiment with tallow 
and oil, in order to ascertain which is the most econo¬ 
mical for lighting our dwellings. Did I know the read¬ 
ers of the Cultivator would be interested in the result, 
I would cheerfully give it. [We shall be glad to re¬ 
ceive it.— Eds.] Wm. N. Ford. Feb. 15, 1854. 
