106 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 9, 1856. 
ALGERIAN TOBACCO. 
The produce which promises to assume most importance, 
and over which the French Government can exercise most 
control, is that of tobacco. Algiers is at present the great 
tobacco province. Some is grown in Oran, and a" few 
hectares in Constantine, but the bulk is brought to the 
great Government warehouse at Algiers. This is probably 
the largest building in Africa. It contains three-fifths of a 
mile of warehouses, and I passed a morning when at 
Algiers in going over it. Until quite recently the Govern¬ 
ment brought up the whole of the tobacco produced in the 
‘‘ colony,” and if they had not, nobody else would. It was 
remarkably like hay, and they could only use it by mixing 
it in France with the produce of the plantations of Hungary 
and America. This the monopoly of the regie enabled them 
to do. By judicious prizes and classifications as to quality 
they have now, however, very much improved the quality of 
the produce, and, by liberality in price, they have rendered 
it a popular article of culture in the European garden 
patches. Now, however, the Government do not undertake 
to buy every leaf of tobacco grown in Africa. They are 
anxious to push it into general commerce, and some little 
finds its way at cheap rates into private hands. It is used 
to adulterate the American. At the maqazin the Govern¬ 
ment bought during the last year 3,000,000 of kilos., at an 
average of 90f. the 100 kilos. Of this about one-third was 
produced by the natives, and the other two-thirds by the 
colonists. The tobacco is brought in in its rough state. 
The warehousemen take the bale to pieces, shake it, dry it, 
classify it according to its quality, and stack it. For the 
best the Government pays 140f. the 100 kilos.; for the 
worst, 20f. It is divided into four classes. The best I 
tobacco produced by the Europeans comes from Boufarik, 
in the Metidja, and Birkadem, in the Sahel, near Algiers. 
At present the best is but very indifferent, and one of the 
penalties paid by the French for the conquest of Africa is 
being compelled to smoke rather worse cigars than they 
formerly had. This, however, is of no great consequence, 
for no Frenchman has the least idea of fragrance or flavour 
in tobacco. The regie has educated him to consider anything 
a good cigar, so that it will burn, and give forth a strong, 
rank smoke. The indigenes at present cultivate very little 
tobacco. The best is grown by the Chibili tribe. The 
culture will probably increase among the Arabs. In the 
towns the habit of smoking is already spreading, and even 
in the tents there are some who cannot resist the offer of a 
cigar. The strict Mussulman looks upon it, however, as a 
transgression only second to that of drinking wine or spirits, 
and some of the tribes have been forbidden by their mara¬ 
bouts to plant the heterodox weed. I had a long talk upon 
this subject with a Thaleb of the household of Si-Mokhtar. 
He was quite aware that the discovery of tobacco was 
posterior to the Koran, but the Prophet, he said, had 
forbidden intoxication under the name of wine, and his 
followers had no right to indulge in it under the name of 
tobacco. If this were a fundamental article of faith, the 
French would get little tobacco from the natives. The 
Berbers and the negroes, however, have no such scruples. 
Thus much for the tobacco culture.— {Times.) 
LANTANA CROCEA SUPERBA CULTURE. 
On the 27th of February last I received a healthy little 
plant from a respectable firm in Yorkshire, which was placed 
in the plant stove, and allowed to remain in the pot (a No. 60) 
until it had recovered from the effects of the carriage. On the 
6th of March it was turned out of the pot, and placed in a No. 
24 pot—a rather large shift this, but only what was deemed 
necessary after a careful examination of the roots, which 
were found to be perfectly healthy, and to have filled the 
original pot. The pot into which the plant was to be placed 
had been well drained with broken pots and a layer of rubbly 
turf, on the top of which was placed a little of the compost 
that had been prepared for the occasion, and which con¬ 
sisted of two parts turfy loam, two parts fibry peat, and one- 
third silver sand, well incorporated, but not sifted. The 
plant was then inserted in the centre of the pot, which 
was lightly filled with the compost, and struck smartly on 
the potting-bench, to settle the compost equally round the 
roots of the plant, and to allow sufficient room between the 
soil and the top of the pot for the water required to feed the 
plant upon. The branches—four in number—were pinched 
back to within half an inch of the main stem. It was 
watered with water that had been heated to 80°, and the 
pot was then plunged into a dung hotbed that commanded 
a bottom-heat of 80°, and a top-heat of 60° by night, and 
from 70° to 75° by day. Here it remained for twenty-four 
days, during which time, and through the whole course of 
cultivation, it was watered with water that had had the chill 
removed from it. Air was freely given when the weather 
would admit. The shoots were regularly stopped as they 
elongated until the 19th of July, which kept the plant low 
and lull of branches. On the 30th it was ascertained that 
the roots had reached the sides of the pot, and, to keep it 
growing, it was immediately removed into a No. 12 pot. To the 
above compost was added one part of two-year-old cowdung. 
Potting being completed, the pot was replunged into the 
hotbed for a few days, and then gradually raised in the bed, 
and finally removed into the plant stove, and placed on the 
surface of the pit. The thermometer in this house—a span- 
roof during this and the following month—was not allowed 
to fall below 60°, nor to rise above 75°. Here it received 
more air, and of a drier nature, than it had done while in 
the hotbed, and was occasionally, watered with weak liquid- 
manure, that was made of bones dissolved in sulphuric 
acid, soot, lime, and rain water. In applying this care was 
exercised. It was not given for five or six days after potting, 
and then as already stated, but weaker, until the roots had 
reached the sides of the pot. Afterwards it was given 
stronger and more frequently than it was when it was first 
used; while the first bloom was allowed to expand, and then 
it was altogether discontinued, which was on the 7th of 
August. 
This change soon caused the foliage to become better 
developed, and the shoots to be firmer and shorter jointed 
than they were in the frame. On the 20th of April the 
roots were observed protruding through the hole in the bot¬ 
tom of the pot, and forthwith it was shifted into a No. 8 
pot, and placed on the front stage of the house, and as near 
the glass as it was practicable for it to stand. For this and 
its final potting, which was into a small No. 3 pot, that took 
place on the 22nd of June, the soil consisted of three parts 
turfy loam, one part fibry peat, two parts two-year-old cow- 
dung, half-part silver sand, and quarter-part pounded char¬ 
coal. From the time it was removed into the stove to the 
time it commenced flowering it was syringed regularly every 
day with tepid water, except when the external air contained 
too much wet. It was also shaded, when in flower, during 
bright sun, and in the latter part of August it was placed in 
the greenhouse, where it has displayed its beauty, and is now 
going to rest, and will have to remain through the winter in 
a temperature of from 45° to 50°. It measured, when in per¬ 
fection, nearly four feet high, and three feet nine inches 
across in the centre, and w r as one mass of bloom, tho colour 
of which was a bright orange radiating from a yellow centre. 
—B. B., near Halifax. 
AN IMPENETRABLE LIVE FENCE. 
Having an old quickset fence that was quite naked at the 
bottom, through bad management in its infancy, and its being 
too old to sprout up if cut down, I tried the following plan 
to fill it up. In the autumn of 1852 I had it thoroughly 
cleaned of weeds, and the soil well loosened, I then pro¬ 
cured some plants of the Dog Rose, cut the tops half off, and 
planted them among the quicks about two feet apart. In 
the following spring I applied a good dose of liquid-manure 
(diluted night-soil), and it is now one of the best fences in 
the parish, so close that a bird cannot fly through it. 
The Dog Rose might be grown at a cheap rate from seeds, 
and transplanted. I think it would be a most useful plant 
to mix with quicks when new fences are formed, say planted 
two or three feet apart. It also bears cutting well, which is 
not the case with the common Sweet Brier, which is recom¬ 
mended by some for fencing. The pips also form a useful 
winter store for the feathered tribe.—G. T. F. 
