TOBACCO CULTURE.
Tobacco at the present time is one of the great products of the world. As an article of agriculture and of commerce, it holds an important place among the great staples, while as a luxury, its use has become as extensive as its culture. The tobacco plant is now cultivated in nearly all parts of the world with varying success, according to the system of cultivation adopted by its growers. Primarily cultivated by the aborigines of America in the rude manner common to uncivilized races, the plant has, by numerous experiments and careful culture, become one of the greatest of agricultural products. When first discovered by the Spanish and Portuguese, the plant was small, and in flavor "poor and weak and of a byting taste." As soon, however, as the Spaniards began its cultivation in the islands of St. Domingo and Trinidad, attention was paid to developing it, and in a few years the description we find of the latter variety is that it is "large, sharp, and growing two or three yards from the ground."
At the close of the sixteenth century the Portuguese began its cultivation in Portugal, the soil of which seemed well adapted to the plant, and still further increased the size and quality of the leaf. Tobacco is now cultivated through a wider range of temperature than any other tropical plant, and whether grown amid the sands of Arabia, the plains of South America, or in the rich valley of the Connecticut, develops its finest form and perfection of leaf. During the last half-century the plant has been developed to a greater extent than during the three hundred years succeeding its discovery. Now its cultivation has been reduced to almost an exact science, and the quality of the leaf is in a great measure within the control of the growers of the plant.
Formerly it was supposed that the varieties that grew in the tropics could not be successfully cultivated in the temperate regions, but recent and repeated experiments have demonstrated the fact that the tobacco of Cuba can be grown with success in the Connecticut valley. While the tobacco of the tropics is the finest in flavor, the more temperate regions produce the finest and best colored leaf. The tobacco of the tropics, as to the uses to which it is put, is limited, while the tobacco of the more temperate regions can be used for all the purposes for which the plant is designed.
The cultivation of the plant varies with the variety, the soil, and the use to be made of the leaf. Thus a tobacco designed for cutting purposes is cultivated somewhat differently from that designed for the manufacture of snuff or cigars. In the one case the plant is allowed to remain growing longer in the field, while in the other the work of topping the plants is performed at an earlier stage of their growth. Primarily but little attention was paid to the color and texture of the leaf, the principal object being the production of a leaf of large size, rather than one of good color, and of a silky texture. Now, however, these are most important considerations, and give value to the tobacco in proportion to the perfection of these qualities.
The soil, too, is carefully chosen and fitted in the most thorough manner, while the fertilizers used are selected with reference to the color of leaf desired. When first cultivated in the United States it was thought that tobacco designed for various uses could not be grown in the same state or section; now, however, tobacco for cigars and for cutting are grown nearly side by side. But in the fineness of the leaf, tobacco culture has made its greatest stride. By a careful selection of soil, and by the judicious application of proper fertilizers, the leaf tobaccos of Connecticut, Cuba, and Virginia, resemble in texture the finest satins and silks. This result has been reached, not by the sacrifice of the strength of the leaf, but by the most careful culture and improved methods of curing.
The first labor to be performed in connection with the growth of a crop of tobacco, is the selection of a site for, and the making of, the "plant bed" or "plant patch." These beds for the early growth of the plants until large enough to transplant, are made in various ways and at different times, according to the method of tilling adopted and the climate. In California the tobacco bed is made in January, in the Southern States, Syria, Turkey, and Holland, in March. In New England in April. In Mexico and Java in June, and in Persia in December. In the Connecticut valley the manner of making the
PLANT BED,
as given by a Massachusetts tobacco-grower, is as follows:—