A Missouri tobacco grower gives the following account of the selection of soil for tobacco in that State:—
"Select upland, or black oak ridges and slopes, which comprise a large area of the tobacco lands of our county, and carefully clear off all the timber, and take out all the roots we can conveniently, and break up the ground as thoroughly as can be done by ploughing and harrowing until all the tufts and dirt are perfectly pulverized."
In Cuba the planters select the red soil as the best for fine tobacco. Some planters, however, prefer a soil mixed of 1/4 sand and 1/2 to 3/4 of decayed vegetable matter. In St. Domingo the soil is not uniform. The planters select a deep black loam or tenacious clay, or even loams mixed with sand. The most fertile places are on the banks of the Yuna, from Laxay to Jaigua, in the vicinity of Mocha, on the banks of the Camoo, and around La Vega. Around Santiago, clay and sand predominate, and the soil can not be highly praised. Most of the tobacco grown in the island is raised in the valley of the Vega.
Cussree, in treating of this subject, says:—
"The quality of tobacco depends as much upon the nature of the soil as of the climate. The plant requires peculiarities of soil to develop certain of its qualities. And these peculiarities are such that art cannot furnish the conditions to produce them where they are naturally wanting. The sugar-cane grows chiefly on soils derived from calcareous formations; but few or none of these are fitted for tobacco, which is cultivated only on sandy loams. Both the Cuban and American planters concur in asserting that a large quantity of silicious matters in soils is essential for the growth of good tobacco.
"As already noticed, the rich clay loams on the banks of the James River, in Virginia, do not grow good tobacco; while the less fertile silicious soils in the county of Louisa produce it much superior in quality. Small patches of tobacco are everywhere seen growing over the sugar producing districts of Cuba; but I saw no tobacco plantations in the calcareous regions over which I traveled. The soils rest upon the primary formation. Even in the tobacco districts the planters know the spots in the different fields that produce the various qualities of leaf."
In
PREPARING THE SOIL
for the reception and growth of the plants, the fertilizing as well as the plowing of the fields should be performed in the most thorough manner. The first is essential for a large and vigorous growth, while the latter renders the cultivation of the plants much easier. The careful preparation of soil is so intimately connected with all that pertains to the plant, that it should be done well in order that the best results may follow. Tobacco of good body, color, and texture, cannot be grown on land devoid of fertility. The field selected for tobacco, if heavy sward, should be plowed early in the spring or the fall before, and later in the season if the turf is well rotted. After spreading on the manure, the field may be plowed again and harrowed frequently until all the lumps are made fine, and the surface mellow.
In the use of fertilizers select, if a light colored leaf is desired, either horse manure or tobacco stems. In the Connecticut valley nearly all kinds of Domestic, Commercial, and Special fertilizers are used. Of domestic fertilizers, horse manure is considered the best, as it produces the finest and lightest colored leaf of any known fertilizer. Of commercial fertilizers, Peruvian guano is doubtless one of the best—imparting both color and fineness to the leaf. Of special manures, tobacco stems are perhaps the best, at least the most frequently used. Of the other special fertilizers, such as cotton seed meal, castor pomace, ground bone, damaged grain, tobacco waste and saltpetre waste, much may be said both in praise and dispraise. Cotton seed meal, when used with domestic manure is an excellent and powerful manure.