Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1850-06-26

in curing tobacco with salt when it is des-
tined for markets where salt is used in its
manufacture.
Yours, respectfully,
THOMAS MASSIE.
We take pleasure in giving place 10 COM
munica,ons such as the preceding, because
they serve TO exhib. something new in the
way of agricultural practice and inquiry
For ourselves, we have sometimes said, and
oftener thought that there is no branch OF
agricultural industry more susceptible Of
being benefited by scientific investigation
and practical experiment than that of mak-
ing and curing tobacco. In the frs, case,
the chief desidera,um is TO obtain an early
and adequate supply Of plants. In the 9th
er, to secure certain color and consistency
or quality Of the leaf, depending on the uses
to which it is to be applied. In respect to
certainty in the supply Of plants, who has
attempted any expedients, excep. discrimi-
mating selection Of the site and soil for the
seed-bed, fine ti,h, early sowing, and pro-
lection from the frost? And these are pre-
cautions so obvious that there is really no
extraordinary merit-no particular proof of
forecast or sagacity in adopting them; and
yet these very palPable measures are so, Of
ten neglected, or imper(ectly executed, ,ha,
some planters are as proverbial for their
failure as are others for their uniform sue
cess. Why is i. .ha. such men as Mr.. II.
and Mr.. S., or Mr.. IT,, or Mr. B., in Prince
Georges and the Leaches in Calvert Coun-
ty, can always plant early and have plants
to spare But is there no room for i'm
provement Are there no appliances ye,
un'red that would secure supply ofplan's,
beyond the chance Of disappointment, Has
anything been attempted, to make sure of
it beyond wha, has been the common prac-
tice time out Of mind? In every other art,
in every other industry, we see improve
ments constantly making. The tanner, the
shoemaker, the halter, the coachbuilder, the
shipbuilder, the dyer, the cabinetmaker, the
iron master, all-all are tracking their
brains" for some improving invention-en
auamt-go ahead, is the motto of every
trade and calling but that of the cultivation
Of the soil.
There are certain measures that we should
like to see put in force, in the belief that
the planter might always by these, have an
abundance Of plants. Let the seed-bed in
the first place be thoroughly nell drained
so that not particle Of superRuous mois-
ture would ever remain on, or in it. Then
let its surface soil be thoroughly intermix-
ed, and its color darkened with puluerized
charcoal.@ This would at once attract heat
and retain moisture and ammonia, and we
doubt not, much increase and accelerate the
growth Of plants. Add where the bed can
be made. near water, it might be easily Wa
tered with cart and conlrivance such as is
used for watering the streets in large cities.
Spaces might be left in the bed for the horse
and wheels to travel in, withou, touching
the plants. Blu, care must be taken never
to use water at temperature below that Of
the soil on which it is applied, lest the
roots should be chilled and the plant be in
jured instead of benefited
Then as to the quality Of the tobacco, in
reference TO color aud inheren, consistency
Of flavor very much we know depends on
the composition and quality Of the soil and
cllma,e-but has any attempt been made 10
ascertain ho,o much and in what the con
neclion and dependence of the one on The
other consists? What experiments have
been instituted TO determine the effect Of
early or late planting on the color and con-
sis'ency Of the leaf? Who can tell, as the
result Of actual trial, the effect in these re-
spects, or high or low, early or late top
ping Of the plant? and how much depends,
too, upon exac.ness in the degree Of ma,u-
ri'y at the time of topping or cutting p
"The value of charcoal in agriculture is getting
to be so we'll understood, that in our next we will
give instructions for preparing it, from personal OBJ
6ervatlons in boyhood