EXPERIMENTS WITH TOBACCO. 
19 
SOILS. 
The linest tobacco is raised on light, rich soils. If 
not naturally rich enough, it must be made so. Our un¬ 
manured upland soils will grow a fine leaf of any of the 
stronger growing varieties. The deeper the plowing, the 
larger the crop; sub-soiling would be better still. If the 
object is weight of leaf, use old, rich, heavy lands ; the 
product, however, will be coarser, and bring a lower price 
in some markets than that grown on lighter and warmer 
soils. 
VARIETIES. 
There are as many varieties of seed-leaf tobacco as there 
are of Indian corn. Of all the kinds tried, the White Bur¬ 
ley is the easiest to manage and earliest to mature. It be¬ 
comes yellow on the hill, if not irrigated, by the middle of 
August, and when taken to the barn will quickly take on a 
rich brown color before losing its surplus moisture. Other 
varieties nearly as easy to handle are the General Grant, Con¬ 
necticut Seed Leaf, Vuelta Abaio and Missouri Broad Leaf 
—all cigar tobaccos. 
PLANTING OUT. 
We planted out May 25th, in rows six feet apart, the 
plants three feet apart in the rows. This is too far apart even 
for the more robust kinds; a better disposition of the plants 
would be, for the large kinds, rows four feet apart, plants 
three feet in the rows. The Havanna varieties, with droop¬ 
ing leaves, rows three feet apart, and plants two feet. 
Before planting out, remove all covering from the plants, 
to harden them, and then thoroughly soak the bed with water. 
CULTIVATION. 
When the plants have become established, cultivation 
must be begun, and be kept up until the plants show a dis¬ 
position to ripen. Frequent use of the cultivator will render 
less necessary the operation of irrigation, and will hasten the 
maturity of the crop. 
IRRIGATION. 
The tobacco plant, while a great feeder, is very impatient 
of too much moisture in the soil. We irrigated but twice, 
