the cured tobacco. The tobacco houses should have many doors and windows, so as to admit light and dry air, and, by closing them in bad weather, to exclude the rain and dampness, which materially damage the tobacco, besides injuring the color of it. But a better plan for such as can afford it, and all can who grow large crops, is to have the house perfectly tight when the doors are closed, and to hang the tobacco plants rather further apart, and cure it with Messrs. Bibb & Company's patent tobacco "firing and curing apparatus."

This apparatus is not costly, and will pay for itself by the increased value of ten hogsheads, or, in some cases, five hogsheads. Ripe tobacco cured by it is admitted to be worth in the market twice as much as if air-cured. It is highly recommended by all who have used it. It saves the expense of large barns by effectually curing the tobacco in a few days, when it can be taken down and removed to convenient sheds or pushed to the outer sides of the house, and stowed as close as possible without danger, for it is thoroughly dried, and the house can be again filled; and thus the curing of the crop goes on until all is secured. With this apparatus the dried tobacco can be brought into the proper state for shipping and preparing for market at any time, by means of the warm vapor it produces when arranged for the purpose. Any person of ordinary intelligence can manage it. So safe is it from danger of fire that many careful planters use it without fear in houses surrounded by wheat and haystacks.

After tobacco has been cured and is dry, whenever the weather is mild and damp it will become soft and pliant, and then may be stripped. It is first taken off the sticks and laid in heaps, and then the leaves are stripped from the stalks and tied in bundles of about one-fifth or sixth of a pound each. The bundle is formed by wrapping a leaf around the upper part of a handful of leaves, for three or four inches, and tucking the end into the middle of the bundle. There should be, if the quality of the crop permits, four sorts of tobacco, second, bright, yel low, and dull. When the tobacco is taken down the cullers take each plant and pull off all defective, trashy, ground, and worm-eaten leavca next to the big end of the stalk, and then throw it to the next person, who takes off all the best bright leaves (and if there be any yellow leaves he lays them one side, until he has got enough to make a bundle) and throws the plant to the next, who takes off all the rest, being the dull; and the respective strippers, as they get enough leaves in hand, tie up the bundles, and throw them apart to keep the sorts separate for convenience in bulking. Stripping should not be done in dry, harsh weather. It is best not to take down more than can be tied up in a few hours. To bulk tobacco requires judgment and neatness. Logs should be laid parallel with sticks or boards across to support the bulk, and allow free passage for air under the bottom.

The bundles are then taken, one at a time, smoothed and spread out. This is most conveniently done by putting them against the breast and stroking the leaves downward, smooth and straight, with the hand. They are then passed, two bundles at a time, to the man bulking. He lays them down, two at a time, in a straight row, and presses with his hands; the broad part of the bundles slightly projecting over the next two. Two rows of bundles are put in a bulk, and both carried on together; the heads being the outside, and the tails touching or barely lapping. The bulk, when carried up to a sufficient height, ought to have a few sticks laid on the top to keep it in place. It must now be often examined, and if it gets warm or has a musty, bad smell, it will require to be changed into another bulk, laying it down one bundle at a time without pressing, so that it may lie loose and open to admit free circulation of air. This is called wind-rowing. After it has become thoroughly dry and has a strong smell it is fit to "condition;" that is, when the moisture or warmth of weather makes it pliant, it is bulked in three or four, or even six-rowed bulks, and covered with boards or sticks and weighted down with logs, &c., when it will keep in nice order for packing in hogsheads at any time. The best time to pack is during

mild, pleasant weather of spring, or in summer. The best tobacco prize is one known as Page's prize. It is cheap, expeditious in its working, and, being easily taken down and put up, may with convenience be moved from house to house.

THE OLD SYSTEM OF GROWING TOBACCO.

In the days of slavery, tobacco, like king cotton, was grown on too large a scale, and consequently did not pay per acre what it ought by half, and impoverished the lands where it was grown. Now, things have wonderfully changed, and planters cannot afford to pay high prices for the unstable labor of migratory freedmen and grow tobacco on a large scale. Again, when grown extensively by one planter, as formerly, he cannot compete in the market with the small crops, nicely handled, of the thousands of farmers who are for the first time growers of tobacco. Another reason is, common tobacco will not sell now-a-days. Nothing but good, fair tobacco, with fine wrappers, will sell, and that brings high prices. It is clear, then, that the best policy for growers is to try to make no more than they can make and take care of, so as to command a good living price. With industry and a favorable season, and good soil, as many as 7,000 or 8,000 pounds of tobacco have been made by each hand, little and big, besides the other usual grain crops on a farm; but being made on all sorts of land, and air-cured, rammed into houses forced to hold double their proper capacity, the tobacco allowed to make as great a growth as possible, looking to weight more than quality, and carelessly managed from beginning to end, it brought in the market an average price of $3 per 100 pounds. This would be $240 per hand for the very extraordinary crop of 8,000 pounds. This was bad management then, when labor cost nothing but food and clothing, and yet that expense was repaid with enormous interest in the increased value that very labor was acquiring for its owner. But now, when so high a price must be paid for labor, such a practice is ruinous. Under the present state of affairs but one course is left for the grower of tobacco, and if he follows it I am sure he will reap a full reward. I venture to suggest a system.

THE NEW SYSTEM OF GROWING TOBACCO.

In the beginning I would say, unless his land is a good tobacco soil naturally, let no man attempt at this day to grow the plant, for if he does he must fail to make a living profit from his labor. If the soil is light, alluvial, clover-producing, and too light for heavy crops of wheat, let it be well ploughed in the spring, and, unless very rich, fertilized so as to hasten the growth of the plant; work it well, after planting no more than can be managed well by faithful and reliable laborers on the farm during all its stages from planting to packing; keep it clear of worms; top early and top low; house when ripe; cure with the tobacco-curing apparatus; assort and manage neatly, and send to market in nice order. This being done there will probably be an average of 800 pounds to the acre, worth from $20 to $30 per 100 pounds, or $160 to $240 per acre. Allowing three acres to each hand you have an income of $480 to $720 per hand, and only three acres of land employed, while on the old system eight acres were used, and only $240 made. These estimates are low, for there are many. instances in the lower counties of Maryland where much larger returns have been realized by pursuing this system, which I do not claim as original, but the result of the actual experience of practical planters, who did not stop to lament during the transition state of labor, but boldly met the tide of impending ruin, and started out upon a new system, employing with pleasure all the substitutes for labor, offered by labor-saving machinery and new inventions, to aid the skill and furnish hands to the husbandman; and they have been well compensated for their hopeful enterprise.

In consideration of the great number of persons who have lately engaged in the growing of this crop on a small scale this essay has been prepared, with a view to facilitate their work. The writer has studied to be plain, practical, and as concise as possible, in order to be perfectly understood. He hopes he has succeeded, and that his effort may conduce to the success of the tobacco planters

of the Union.

EXPERIMENTS IN LIQUID MANURING.

BY WILLIAM S. RAND, OF Concord, KENTUCKY.

In 1858 my attention was drawn to the well-known fact, that at the foot o hills the earth was always rich and productive. This simple fact convinced me that the fertilizing properties, accumulating so regularly, washed from the hill sides; and that it was reasonable for manures to be transported through liquids. My conclusion then was that all the fertilizing qualities of manures must be reduced to liquids, before they can be absorbed by the growing plants. By decomposing the rough manures the necessary gases are evolved, whereby all

vegetation exists.

Another effect of liquid manure upon the soil is that in whatever direction the liquid wastes run there you will find thriving the tenderest and most delicate of plants. Then if this washing from manure heaps will penetrate the minute fibres of the smallest vegetation, would it not supply larger and hardier plants with corresponding increase? These reflections induced me to put some of my convictions into practical use, which has resulted in success.

The first experiment failed by applying too strong a liquid to hot-house plants, which somewhat shook my faith. So, in the spring of 1858 I erected two large structures like lye-hoppers, holding a wagon load each, and so arranged as to lead the drippings off into a barrel sunk in the ground. Into one of these hoppers I put fresh stable manure, and turned rain water off one side of the house upon it. The liquor was offensive and destructive to young, tender growth, but nourishing and effective if applied to the ground previous to tilling.

The next experiment was leaching all the waste soapsuds, slops and dish water through fresh barn-yard manure, which was attended with inconvenience, but resulted most favorably as an experiment. In February, 1858, it was used without reserve on flowers, under cover and exposed. In the hot-house built underground, and covered with glass roof, it revived and nourished all the flowers, plants, &c., and increased the temperature to such a degree that vegetation seemed to grow by magic. A change from the use of liquid manure to tepid rain-water was apparent in a few hours. The soapsuds leeching was increased with the addition of wood ashes in proportion to one bushel of fresh wood ashes to ten of stable manure. This alkali had the strengthening effect of maturing the woody parts vegetation and diminishing the vine-growing plants. Having a dairy in operation, the cow-droppings were conveyed to the hopper and converted into liquid manure; leeching soapsuds through a peck of fresh hen manure to five bushels of cow droppings. This yielded a liquid that had a most vigorous effect upon all vine-growing plants, and a contrary result upon the fruit-bearing department of our limited vineyard.

of

These observations convinced me that, on the theory that like begets like, it was necessary to know the component parts of all vegetation in order to feed

the various plants with what nature designed for their support. I saw in making these experiments that what would enrich one plant would impoverish another; so my object was to produce a liquid composition that would embrace all the parts necessary for the fruitful growth of vegetation. About this time the newspapers were describing the newly discovered Peruvian guano, and its beneficial effects upon all the vegetable kingdom. I was not long in securing the wonder of the age, and made fair and thorough applications. The result went to show that Peruvian guano is a good manure and is indispensable in some soils; but it is of no particular advantage on strong limestone sections; and that the proper application of the liquid manure will excel Peruvian guano in early growth and vigorous development. Besides, liquid manures are always months in advance of the raw material, ready to be absorbed, while the raw material is undergoing decomposition. Many manures and manufactured fertilizers have attracted the attention of farmers, but the daily wastes of their households are cheaper and more convenient, if not superior.

The materials undergoing experiment in the second hopper varied in substance and effect. Lime, rotten wood, decayed vegetation, refuse meats, old bones, iron, ashes, leather, slops, indeed everything perishable in and around a farm, found its way into this pile, and boiling hot water was poured over as occasion required. The application of this compound was poisonous to vegetation, except corn and potatoes. This liquid, however, was not so successful, and the contents of both hoppers were run into one hogshead. This proved the crowning experiment, and from season to season the hopper was filled with the most varied and promiscuous mass of decaying vegetation and animal matter that could be collected, care being taken that no one of the articles should exceed in quantity, but that the parts should be as nearly equal as possible, reserving for the top course lime, ashes and sand, thereby keeping the fermentation beneath the surface, and placing in the liquor a bag of charcoal to deodorize it.

Having acquired what was deemed and proved a great success, rotten compost and barnyard manure was well worked in one portion; another space of equal size was prepared for phosphates, patent fertilizer, &c., and worked up according to the manufacturers' printed directions; and the third space was turned up and thoroughly saturated with the combined liquid manure. The same crop, onion sets, was put out in each bed, and the result was, that the soil prepared with the liquid manure was so productive that the onions were eaten in the spring before the remainder reached a size fit for table use. The barnyard manure was second, and the fertilizer slow but producing a safe crop. Parsnips, beets, and cabbage were alike tested, with similar results.

This experiment demonstrated that manures can be reduced into fluid extracts, easily prepared, at small expense, ready for instant application to the farmers' crops, to be at once appropriated by vegetation. The plant can thus accept the substance, brought in abundance to its many mouths. There was but one dry fertilizer that held a respectable comparison with the liquid manure, and that was equal parts of rotten chip manure, hen droppings, and sand, mixed and applied as soon as the ground would bear cultivating. This compound is far ahead of any of the manufactured fertilizers offered in the market; indeed, you can take most of these manures, liquify them, apply the liquid at the same time you do the dry material, and the advantages will be a hundred per cent. in favor of the liquid. manure. These observations are made from memory, otherwise the exact differences would be given in detail.

In the view of the writer, the best evidences exist of the success and advantages of liquid manures over composts and raw fertilizers. The growth of garden seeds sent by Commissioner Capron is a fair test and example. Two beds, each 4 feet wide and 20 feet long, were prepared in March, one with the best of dry compost, and the other with the liquid from the same compost poured over the soil. Equal portions of Simpson's early lettuce were placed in each

bed; one is now ready for use, the other just appearing. Carter's first-crop peas were given a favorable trial-half in the compost manure bed, and the residue in the liquid manure bed; the peas in the latter are five inches high, the others not up. Of Wood's early frame radish, the liquid manured will be ready for use in a few days, while the compost manured are weak, and doubtless their inquisitive roots are feeling around some lump of dry compost for life and substance, while the liquid is fed to the hungry plant and absorbed. The new Madeira onion is up and growing finely, while the seed in the compost is awaiting the action of rain and sunshine to supply its wants. These tests were made under very limited circumstances, and on garden products only.

If liquid manures are to be applied on a large scale, farmers interested must invent the apparatus for reducing manures to a liquid state. A cheap and simple apparatus is a common lye vat or hopper. Fill with two bushels new stable manure, a half bushel hen droppings, one peck of lime, one peck of sand, half a bushel of new ashes; then set the hopper to running by pouring over the whole, hot or cold slops, soapsuds, chamber lye, and the refuse liquids of the household. In a week or two stir the compost, and run the liquor through again. After extracting (as you may think) all the virtues of the contents, the latter may be used for mixture with other compost, or applied immediately as a fertilizer, and will prove equal if not superior to most advertised fertilizers.

HOW TO APPLY LIQUID MANURE.

If very strong, mix with earth previous to planting seed, two to three gallons to the square yard. When vegetation is up make the application near and around the plants at evening, or any time after rain, which is the safest way. The manure can be used until the plants bear fruit. Once in 48 hours is often enough. The German proprietor of eight acres, referred to by Morris in "Ten Acres Enough," who transformed the neglected farm of a drunkard owner into a garden of immense productiveness and great profit, furnishes an example of an inex pensive style of tank, made by sinking a brick cistern in the barnyard, into which the liquid manure from six cows and two horses was conducted, as well as the wash from the pig pen and barnyard. The manure heap was always under cover, and kept thoroughly saturated by means of a pump in the cistern, which was also used for filling a hogshead placed upon wheels, and used for distribut ing the fertilizing liquid. The German started with a capital of three dollars, paid in labor for four pigs, and from these and the refuse of the family made, in a buried hogshead, sufficient liquid manure, applied by means of a wheelbarrow, to fertilize his acres, obtain more stock, and grow crops enough in four years to pay $600 for the place, support his family, and gather around him many household comforts and farm implements and appliances.

Mr. Morris, acting upon the suggestion of the thriving German, built in his own barnyard a tank, into which was conducted the wash from stable, pig pen, and yard. Once or twice per week this was pumped up and distributed over the manure heap, and over a huge pile of leaves, the whole mass being saturated with liquid manure, and never allowed to become dry. In the spring both heaps were found to be reduced to a half fluid mass. The effects of this manure were marked, bringing early vegetables to market 10 days sooner than those of neighboring gardens, and the fall crops enjoyed a still greater advantage from the longer continuance of the manuring.

I will conclude with the request that farmers try the experiment of liquid manuring, and satisfy themselves of its superior utility.