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in good heart. In sowing, the seed should be mixed with a little sand or ashes, and the very smallest pinch deposited at the required distances and pressed gently down. When they come up, the smallest and weakest plants should be thinned out, leaving one plant at each hill. They will require frequent looking over, seeking for grubs, setting any upright that have blown over, and stirring the soil at first. Keep down weeds with a horse-hoe, plough, or hand-hoe. On the first rain the plants should be removed from the seed-beds ; if no rain comes, plant on a cloudy day or at evening. Do not, however, wait for rain, but if the plants appear to die in the sun after transplanting, shade with tea-tree bushes stuck in the ground. Transplanting is done in the same way as cabbages, care being taken not to expose the roots to the sun. A boy should go on ahead preceding the planter, with baskets filled with plants, and drop one on each hill; another boy follows with a dibbling-stick, making the holes in the centre of each hill for the reception of the plant. In setting out take hold of the plants carefully by the leaves, gathering them together, and then insert the plants sufficiently deep, so that the surrounding soil may act as a support to keep them in that position. This is also done to protect the tender bud from the effects of the sun. Do not go to the extreme and plant too deep, but just a little deeper than the plant stood in the bed. The plants should be carefully planted, for if the roots are bent up the plant may never flourish, and, perhaps, when too late to transplant, they will die, thus causing a waste of labour, which, in this country, means money. In three or four days, if the weather is dry, take a common scarifier and run it through the rows both ways. This is a delicate operation, and requires a skilful ploughman ; therefore it is better to have a boy to lead the horse, for without care the plants will be cut down with the working. The following week put horse-hoe teeth on the scarifier, and run through the furrows, moulding up immediately afterwards. This should be done every week until the plants are too large to go between without injuring them. The after-culture should then be done with the hand-hoe, leaving the ground as level as possible. When the plant is about hip-high the bud forms a button, which ultimately develops into the seed-stem. Then conies a process known as topping. This is done to throw the strength, which would go to develop seeds, into leaves. This work requires great experience as to the time to top, and also as to the quality of tobacco best worth growing, taking into account the requirements of the market at the time. If a thick heavy leaf is desired, the button should be pinched off at twelve leaves; if a lighter article is desired, the plant is permitted to run up until it begins to throw out seed-branches, when it is broken off, leaving from fifteen to twenty leaves to ripen. There is another important item with regard to topping—namely, as to whether the plants are late or early. If there are but few leaves on the plants, even these will not ripen if they are not topped. However, no person can be far wrong if they top to about twelve leaves —that is, if they have strong healthy plants; if there are many, then the grower has the choice either to break off the seed-branches only or to take eight or ten leaves off. This should be done in answer to the following questions: Firstly, Is there time enough for the upper leaves to ripen? and, secondly, Are the plant and soil strong enough to ripen all the leaves, even the upper ones ? The answers to these questions will decide the best method of topping. If there is time he takes off flower-stalk only; if not, he tops to nine, ten, &c, leaves, according to his judgment in weight of leaf required by the buyer. The planters in the States are usually in communi.cation with the manufacturer or tobacco-broker before they put their crops in; however, no person can be far wrong if he tops to about twelve or fourteen leaves—that is, if he has strong, healthy plants. Suckering follows shortly after topping, and is done for the same reason—to concentrate the strength of the plants in the leaves. A sucker is a little branch or shoot appearing at the place where the stem of the tobacco-leaf joins the stalk. They draw off nutriment, while they are never large enough to be of any use, and therefore must be removed. This is one of the most troublesome jobs in tobacco-culture ; but they must be taken off if a planter wishes to get weight and quality. Priming is also done to remove the ragged and worthless leaves which are next to the ground. These leaves are sometimes preserved and sent to the market as shoepwash. Priming, if ne3essary, should always be-done prior to topping. Never prime, top, or sucker when the dew is on a plant, or during a rain, as it makes the leaves form spots, which, becoming larger in time, destroy the leaf for wrappers if intended for that purpose. To be prepared to save the crop in good order ample house-room is essential. To hang three acres of tobacco acquires, in this climate (to prevent pole-burn), a building 30ft. x 24ft. x 12ft. This should be arranged with scantling or tea-tree poles running across the shed, four feet apart, and parallel with one another ; then two more tiers of poles, at similar distances apart, one above the other. These are to accommodate the sticks used to hang the tobacco on. The sticks should be cut from half-inch tea-tree, and in length should be 4ft. 6in.; this leaves a margin of three inches on each side to rest on the poles. It requires some experience to tell when the tobacco is ripe, and the.best way for a novice is to get a man who knows when it is ready to show him. However, I give some ordinary rules, which nevertheless must not be exclusively depended upon. First, a mottled leaf is always ripe, but all leaves do not mottle, but assume instead a thin, transparent look ; secondly, a brittle leaf denotes ripeness. The brittleness may be ascertained by taking the leaf between the fingers and doubling it up: all leaves are not brittle, especially if it is a very fine, delicate leaf. However, the whole appearance of the leaf is generally altered, so that with a little attention and observation one can soon tell whether it is ripe or not. The plant is then cut off close to the ground with a tomahawk, taking care not to break the leaves in doing so. After cutting, stand the plant upside down, and let it wilt for a short time, when it may be handled without breaking the leaves. It may now be taken to the shed ; but no more should be cut in one morning than can be carted and hung the same day, nor should the sun wilt it too much. Do not cut the tobacco if it is wet from either rain or dew. A spear-head having been made to fit the end of the sticks, the person hanging the tobacco should take a plant in his left hand, and, holding the other end of the stick against something solid, draw the plant on to the stick by putting the spear-head through the main stem close to the butt,