The best ground for raising the plant, according to Capt. Carver ("Treatise on Culture of Tobacco," &c.), is a warm rich soil, not subject to be overrun with weeds. The soil in which it grows in Virginia is inclining to sandy, consequently warm and light; the nearer, therefore, the nature of the land approaches to that, the greater probability there is of its flourishing. The situation most preferable for a plantation is the southern declivity of a hill, or a spot sheltered from the blighting north winds. But at the same time the plants must enjoy a free current of air; for if that be obstructed they will not prosper.
The different sorts of seed not being distinguishable from each other, nor the goodness to be ascertained by its appearance, great caution should be used in obtaining the seed through some responsible mercantile house, or individual of character.
Each capsule contains about a thousand seeds, and the whole produce of a single plant has been estimated at 350,000. The seeds are usually ripe in the month of September, and when perfectly dry may be rubbed out and preserved in bags till the following season.
There is a large quantity of tobacco raised in the southern part of Indiana annually, equal in quality to the tobacco raised in Kentucky. In some counties the article is extensively cultivated, and generally pays the producer a handsome profit on the labor bestowed on it. The cultivation of it is becoming more extensive every year. Nearly all this crop is taken to Louisville for sale, very little being shipped south on account of the producer.
Heretofore, owing to the heaviness of tobacco and bad roads, the producer has encountered great difficulties in getting his crop to market. The hauling of a few hogsheads fifty or sixty miles, or even forty, is no light job, even over good roads. Hence, tobacco has not been as extensively cultivated as it would have been under different circumstances. But, with the facilities afforded by the railroads in carrying their crops to market, I doubt not the farmers of the interior will more generally engage in the cultivation of tobacco, and those who have been in the habit of raising small crops will extend their operations.
In Maryland the seed is sown in beds of fine mould, and the plants arising therefrom are transplanted in the beginning of May. They are set at the distance of three or four feet apart, and are hilled, and kept continually free from weeds. When as many leaves have shot out as the soil will nourish to advantage, the top of the plant is broken off, which of course prevents its growing higher. It is carefully kept clear from worms, and the suckers which put out between the leaves are taken off at proper times, till the plant arrives at perfection, which is in August. When the leaves turn of a brownish color, and begin to be spotted, the plants are cut down and hung up to dry, after having sweated in heaps one night. When the leaves can be handled without crumbling, which is always in moist weather, they are stripped from the stalks, tied up in bundles, and packed for exportation in hogsheads. No suckers nor ground leaves are allowed to be merchantable. An industrious person may manage 6,000 plants of tobacco, which will yield 1,000 lbs. of dried leaves, and also four acres of Indian corn.
Miller, an American author, thus describes the mode of culture:—
When a regular plantation of tobacco is intended, the beds being prepared and well turned up with the hoe, the seed, on account of its smallness and to prevent the ravages of ants, is mixed with ashes and sown upon them, a little before the rainy season. The beds are raked, or trampled with the foot, to make the seed take the sooner. The plants appear in two or three weeks. As soon as they have acquired four leaves, the strongest are carefully drawn up and planted in the field by a line, at a distance of about three feet from each other. If no rain fall, they should be watered two or three times. Every morning and evening the plants must he looked over in order to destroy a worm which sometimes invades the bud. When they are about four or five inches high, they are to be cleaned from weeds and moulded up. As soon as they have eight or nine leaves, and are ready to put forth a stalk, the top is nipped off in order to make the leaves longer and thicker. After this the buds which sprout at the joints of the leaves are also plucked off, and not a day is suffered to pass without examining the leaves to destroy the large caterpillar, which is often most destructive to them. When they are fit for cutting, which is known by the brittleness of the leaves, they are cut off with a knife close to the ground, and, after lying some time, are carried to the drying-shed or house, where the plants are hung up by pairs upon lines, leaving a space between, that they may not touch one another. When perfectly dry, the leaves are stripped from the stalks and made into small bundles, tied with one of the leaves. These bundles are laid in heaps and covered with blankets; care is taken not to overheat them, for which reason the heaps are laid open to the air from time to time, and spread abroad. This operation is repeated till no more heat is perceived in the heaps, and the tobacco is then ready for packing and shipping.
I have been favored by Mr. J. M. Hernandez, a Cuba planter, with some valuable instructions for the cultivation of Cuba tobacco, which I subjoin. These remarks apply principally to America, but most of the advice and information will be found generally applicable to other localities:—
The first thing to be considered in this, as in every other culture, is the soil, which for this kind of tobacco (N. repanda) ought to be a rich, sandy, loam, neither too high nor too low—that is, ground capable of retaining moisture, the more level the better, and, if possible, well protected by margins. The next should be the selection of a spot of ground to make the necessary beds. It would be preferable to make those on land newly cleared, or, at all events, when the land has not been seeded with grass; for grass seeds springing up together with the tobacco would injure it materially, as the grass cannot be removed without disturbing the tobacco plants. In preparing the ground for the nurseries, break it up properly, grub up all the small stumps, dig out the roots, and carefully remove them with the hand. This being done, make the beds from three to four inches high, of a reasonable length, and from three to three and a-half feet broad, so as to enable the hand, at arm's length, to weed out the tender young plants with the fingers from both sides of the bed, and keep them perfectly clean.