Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-05-29

heretofore. 1t is crop easily produced and
made ready for market, and when the season
is long enough to mature the plant, it can be
raised profitably, yielding very handsome
return to the cultivator. The average yield
to an acre is from fifteen to eighteen hundred
pounds, though on very rich and highly cult
waited land, a ton, and even more is sometimes
produced. For the last three or four years
the best qualities have commanded an aver
age price of fourteen cents a pound, so that
the average gross income from an acre OF to-
bacco may be fairly estimated at two hundred
dollars.
The mode of cultivation is as follows /:
Early as possible in the spring, the seed is
sown broadcast like cabbage seed, on a warm
bed or border made rich, for the seeds ger
inmate slowly and the early growth of the
tobacco plants is very slow indeed. These
beds are carefully weeded even when the
plants are very small for SO slow is their
growth, that if they are not kept free from
weeds, they would become chOked and killed
by them; after these plants attain the height
of four or five inches, or about the size Of
cabbage plants when transplanted, they arc
then set out in rows three or four feet apart,
and iequire to be protected from the direct
rays Of the sun this is usually accomplished
by Single placed in the ground so that it
stands over them inclining to the SOUTH
This transportation is effected about the
middle or latter part of June, and now the
plants require pretty close watching as the
cut worm attacks the tender plant as it does
the cabbage. This worm is discovered early
in the morning by digging an inch or two
about the plant and must be destroyed ],
- / nj &c Of
in its place.
The ground into which the plants are set
should be warm, quick and as rich as posi-
BILE. After the tobacco begins to grow when
transplanted, its growth is very rapid, and in
two months it becomes a rank, mature plant.
During this time it is cultivated with s. cul-
tvator and hoe, precisely as cabbages are.
When it has attained height of fifteen or
sixteen inches, the spouts or suckers are
nipped off and only center stalk allowed to
grow, as the desire is to produce as large
leaves as possible. During its growth a
worm of considerable size feeds upon and
destroys the leaves unless prevented. This
is done 10y examining the plants in the morn
ing and where worm is discovered, picking
ing it off and destroying it. This labor may
be lessened very much by having flock of
turkeys in or near the field. In the large
fields of tobacco in Maryland and Virginia,
the negro children drive focks Of turkeys
through the tobacco fields, which pick these
worms from the leaves and destroy them.
At this time the plant grows with aston
ishing rapidly, and soon attains height of
three or three-and-a "a half feet, when it is
headed in' by nipping off the stalk as soon
as the flowing buds make their appearance,
only a sufficient number OF these being per-
mitted to ripen to furnish seed for succeed
ing year.
As soon as the plant arrives at maturity,
which is shown by the bottom leaves having
a yellow appearance and sooner, when an ear
ly frost is anticipated, the plant is cut down
either with Ratchet or hay-knife, the thick
stem being cut off close to the ground The
plants are then left upon the ground for three
or four hours that the leaves may wilt before
they are gathered care, however, must be
taken that they are not scOrched by the sun,
an l in that manner injured. If, by sudden
change in the weather, the tobacco is over
taken by a frost, before it is harvested, it
should be cut early in the morning, before
tie sun mcks the frost upon the leaves. In
any event the frost injcres and dcpreciates
the value of the tobacco if it comes upon it
in the field, but more if it is not cut early in
the morning while the frost is still on it.
Alter it has been cut and permitted to wilt,
so that the leaves have lost their bitterness
and becomes less liable to break in handling,
it is then gathered into barns, made SO open
that free circulation of air is given, that
the tobacco may not must nor mould before
it dries, ard yet close enough to protect it
from the winds and storms. Where the or
binary barns are used as drying houses for it,
the doors arc all left open, and occasionally
board is removed to permit the air to have
access to the tobacco. Some houses are con-
stituted for drying it, by having large doors
at either end, and by having every third or
fourth board upon the sides hung on hinges so
that they can be opened or shut at pleasure.
When taken to the house, two plants are
tied together at their butts with Irvine and
are then hung over poles placed one above
the other and as near together as possibly,
| and yet so far apart that the leaves OF one
plant do not come in contact with those of
another. There it is allowed to hang until
dry, and after that, as wet day occurs in
winter, when the leaves are little damp so
damp so that they will not easily break, they
are pnled from the stalks and pac'l ed in box
| es for the market. The stalks are not used
| for any other purpose than as manure, and
when thrown into heaps and allowed to de-
| cay, are, in the spring, spread upon anil pow-
| ed into the ground.
! I have given you in much haste the de-
| tails of the cultivation, harvesting aid aver
age value of q tobacco crop in this neighIor-
| ofhot weather, such as Our July aud August,
l -
| start it in the open air, it might, should
| Think, be started in hot Led. The seed
| from tobacco raised here is preferred by our
farmers, as it produced leaves very much
| larger than the Cu6a seed and commands the
| same price as that raised from Cuba seed on
our soil. 1t is said that the seed produced
| from plants raised from that obtained in Cuba
will, in two or three years produce the same
| sized plants as those raised from the seed
| grown here. S. a. F,
The above will afford our farmers some
idea of the mode of cultivatng tobacco and
the operation of curing the weed. There are
some practical difficulties in the curing how
ever, which, VIC think, best learned from ex-
perience ; and we hope some of those now
SeIlieu III niinheSo.a "ho arc practicaIiy To-
bacco- growers, will inaugurate the COM
mencement of this business, and give others
the opportunity of learning of them. The
State Agricultural Coll &c at Glencoe, if in
operation, would be the right spot at which
to try the first experiments.
The Vote of ChisaCO County.