PRACTICAL PAPERS— COMNUNICATIONS. 
365 
ounce of seed for eacli acre to be set out, not expecting to use all tlie plants 
but to be safe as to quantity and to give opportunity to select the strongest 
and best. The plants should be set out in the fields as soon as they liav- 
acquired sufficient strength, any time in June, the earlier the better. 
The land where they are set should be liberally manured each year, if 
possible; not because the crop uses so much more than other crops, but be¬ 
cause very much depends on the rapid growth of the plant; this gives qual¬ 
ity and color, hence the land should be in high condition. The more 
thorough the cultivation, the oftener the soil is stirred, the better will be the 
crop. 
As soon as the blossom buds appear, the plants should be topped, taking 
off with it five or six leaves. Breaking off the tops will force the growth of the 
suckers. If the season is warm and wet, the suckers must be removed a 
number of times. No specific rule can be laid down, but that the suckers 
must be kept back, and before cutting, must be taken off clean. The 
tobacco usually ripens in ten days or two weeks after it is topped. When 
sufficiently matured the plants are cut and strung upon lath, six or seven 
plants on each. For this purpose a steel point, with a socket to fit the end 
of the lath is used, this is forced through the large end of the stalk. The 
tobacco is then drawn to the sheds and hung upon racks, constructed so as 
leave six or seven inches between the tiers. As these sheds are generally 
built, it requires about 1,500 feet of lumber to store an acre of tobacco. 
The actual cost of cultivation varies with the season; it is usually from 
$35 to $40 dollars an acre, including interest on cost of fixtures. The mar¬ 
ket value of the crop depends both upon the condition of the market and 
the quality of the tobacco, ranging all the way from $50 to $300 per acre. The 
crop for 1870 was of a much better quality in texture and size of leaf than 
that of Connecticut or Ohio, and will command better prices in the market. 
This was caused by the long continued drouth at the east, while we had 
timely rains when the leaf was filling. 
The idea generally prevails that raising tobacco soon exhausts the soil, 
from the fact that such has been the case in the south, but we do not be¬ 
lieve that it can be done any sooner by continual cropping with tobacco 
than with wheat. The practice with Southern planters has been to clear 
new lands and crop as long as it would pay for the labor,.and then turn the 
land to waste. The lands need to be kept in good condition by high ma¬ 
nuring, as we have said before, to secure rapid growth; where this is done, 
crop after crop of tobacco can be raised without any apparent diminution of 
quantity or deterioration in quality; in fact the best crop raised in this sec¬ 
tion the past season was the seventh consecutive crop from the same land. 
Sowed crops do not follow tobacco well, except in very dry seasons, on ac¬ 
count of the rank growth of straw induced by the richness of the soil; but 
were we to undertake to raise one hundred bushels of corn to the acre, the 
land we would select as the most likely to yield it would be our oldest 
