TOBACCO GROWING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1204, 29 March 1895, Page 6

TOBACCO GROWING.

Mr Gray, of Wedderburn, Victoria, has given to the press ot 1 his colony the following information regarding the way tobacco is grown in America and Cuba t—.

1. Variety.—-Either the Virginia or Connecticut would suit this district well. The Havanna is a valuable variety, but is ndt so hardy as the other two. The seed can be procured from any seedsman, and if good, is sufficient for an acre of land. 2. Seed-bed.—2oft by 4ft would be a good size for a seed-bed for one acre.

3. Cover the seed-bed with brush or small wood and burn it, in order to kill the grass and weed seed in the ground. A nice piece of new ground is best for seed-bed. 4. As soon as the brush is done burning rake off any charcoal (but not the ashes), loosen the ground from lin to 2in deep (not more), rake the bed well, and sprinkle evenly seed.

5. Do not rake the bed after the seed has been put on, but draw a light brush over to cover the seeds. (Raking buries the seed too deep.) 6. If the seed is kept warm and damp for three days and then put in the bed before the ground get 3 cold it will germinate much sooner than dry seed in oold ground. 7. The seed may be put in either in July, August, or September, and two or three beds sown at different times would be advisable. 8. As soon as the leaves on the plants are as large as a 2s piece, they may be transplanted, but they will grow even if much larger. 9. Prepare the land by ploughing 4in to 6in deep, harrow and roll smooth.

10. When the plants are ready for transplanting, lift with finger and thumb, and carry to field. Make a hole 3in deep, with a sharp wooden peg lin (or less) in diameter, and place the root (which is carrot-shaped) in the hole, then gently squeeze the earth (which should be slightly moist, as after a rain, and when nearly dry) up against the root. A boy 10 years old will plant half an acre per day. 11. Mark out your rows with a hoe or crooked stick not more than just sufficient to show where the plants are to be dropped. Make the rows 4ft apart, and put a plant every 3ft in the rows.

12. Keep the ground clean and often loosened with scarifier or Planet implement. Be careful not to touch the plants with the scarifier, but loosen the ground round the plants with a light hoe. 13. When from 2jft to 3ft high, nip the top out of all save a few of the best, which keep for seed. Each stalk so kept will give enough to plant an acre or more*

14. Break off all suckers as they shoot out above the leaves j keep off all grubs and caterpillars. 15. About February the four bottom leaves will be ready to pull off and dry. A fortnight or three weeks later the middle leaves may be taken off for drying. Four or five leaves on top may be left until April, or until the frost is expected. 10. The leaves as taken fodm, the

stalk should be kept all one side up and handled carefully. Do not let them He long in the sun, as they will " scald," as it is termed j carry or cart to a shady place.

17. The leaves are usually put on sticks 4ft long and lin in diameter; round sticks will do, but they are usually split like palings or sawn. 18. Girls usually string the tobacco in America with a sail needle arid twine (sail twine) ; the leaves hang on each side of the stick, and the twine is tied to each end of the stick to keep them in place. 19. The sticks with the leaves are then hung up on joists in a suitable building, but if there is good shade they can hang on scaffolds outdoors for a week or more without damage. 20. When the web of the leaf is quite dry and the stem of the leaf appears to be dry the tobacco is ready to pack away in bulk for " sweating," but it muse not be handled until a damp day or two has again softened the leaf, or it will break up, which must be carefully avoided at all times.

21. "When the sticks with the tobaccco are taken down, the stocks may be removed or left in at pleasure. 22. At any time when the web of the leaf is soft and pliable the leaves may be tied into " bonds " or bunches of about each, keeping each colour by itself, also assorting as to size. 23. In America nearly all the tobacco is dried by the heat of fire in flues running across the drying-house, but in Cuba mostly by the atmosphere. The seasons being long here, fire is not so necessary as in America. 24. As soon as the tobacco is all dried, it is usually sold to the "tobacco merchant," and in my early days we thought 4 cents, or 2d per lb, a splendid price, and some years 3 cents was the top price. At these prices every farmer grew from 5 to 50 acres, and some few got rich at it.

25. Great care must be observed that the tobacco does not mould before deliverv to the merchant.

26. The tobacco merchant gives the tobacco a second drying in midsummer before packing in hogsheads. After that the tobacco can be pressed as hard as wool. About 9001 bis usually pressed into one hogshead, and the tobacco is shipped to all parts of the globe, and will keep for years without injury, and, in fact, improves by keeping for some time.