TOBACCO CULTIVATION.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1715, 16 August 1862, Page 5

TOBACCO CULTIVATION.

[From Ihc " Sydney Elliptic."]

We are "lad to bear that extensive preparations are being made in various parts of the colony for the growth of tobacco. The prospect of aure sale and remunerating pnee, lor some year* to come,

is so inviting, that an unusually large number of our agriculturists appear to be directing their attention to this hitherto neglected branch of industry. _ Let us hope that the ultimate result of this train of events may turn out to be the production of a superior article of colonial manufacture, which shall obtain and keep possession of the home market. The circumstances bearing upon the object in view are exceedingly encourag'Jug, A large amount of skill and capital are likely to be thrown into the enterprise under more favourable conditions than at any previous period of our history. The cultivation of the plant will be more general throughout the colony, and the peculiar adaptability thereto of particular soils and localities—many of which have not been tried heretofore, —will now be ascertained. The capabilities of the remote interior districts in respect of this species of culture may be worth testing, as well as those of places contiguous to the centres of population, the distance from market, in the event of the value of the product being in a fair degree exchangeable, not seriously affecting the comparative margin of profit. For tobacco-leaf at present, and at anticipated prices, would be found to bear as long a land carriage as wool. The extreme and intermediate portions of the Northern, Western, and Southern districts, therefore, may participate in the benefits of tobaccogrowing, in common with the settlers who reside nearer to the sea-coast. And, if we have not been misled by observations made in such quarters, they will find themselves in the enjoyment of certain facilities in raising the plant, which, by rendering unnecessary the same amount of care and attention as are required in the coastward districts, will more than counterbalance the disadvantages of distance. These will be referred to in the sequel. Let us endeavour to point out, in the first place, the singular suitableness of the soil and climate of Australia for the growth of tobacco as compared with that of those of other countries. The plant itself may be said to be in a manner natural to New South Wales, since a wild indigenous variety, corresponding in all essential characteristics with the cultivated kind abounds, iu all the more fertile portions of the colony, and especially in the Northern districts. It delights in moist and sheltered situations, preferring a sandy loam, and is found chiefly growing in brush land and on the banks of rivers and creeks. What this wildling might be brought out by a continued course of cultivation, seems never to have been the subject of experiment, but the leaves of it, after having undergone the usual curing process, are intensely nicotian and narcotic in their effects. But the universal diffusion of it as an indigenous plant manifests the natural adaptability of our soil and climate to the nurture of the botanical family to which it belongs. Ilencu tobacco, which, in other countries, is said to he an annual, is with us almost deserving of the name of a perennial. In Virginia, as we are informed, the roots or stumps invariably die off after the first season's cutting, and require to be replaced every year by fresh seedlings. But in Australia they retain a vigorous vitality for years, yielding without replanting if required, for at least three successive summers, crops as luxuriant as those derived from the first season's cuttings. Neither arc we aware that there is any good reason for assuming that, in the leaf of the latter yields, there is any deterioration in quality. This appears to be a mere conjecture; the evidence of facts, especially as regards increased mildness and agreeable flavour of the leaf, leads to an opposite conclusion. And, in addition to the great savingof labour arising from this self-renova-tion of the tobacco field,such a crop is much earlier and sooner fit for cutting than that from seedling plants. Owing to the length of our growing-sea-son, too, as determined by the absence of frosts, it is possible, in many districts of the colony, to have no less than three cuttings from the same field in the same year. This, wo believe, is unexampled in any other country in the world, and is enough to show the extraordinary facilities which the soil and climate of this colony afford for the production of tobacco. In the interior districts beyond the dividing range, the horned grub, which is so destructive in its ravages upou the growing crop in the metropolitan countries, and at Hunter ltiver, and which gives occasion to so much extra labour and trouble to the tobacco grower, is wholly unknown. The grub in question is said to be identical with one in America that gives similar annoyance to the planters there. A single one will destroy the elementary leaves of a half grown plant in the course of a few hours, and to rid the crop of such mischievous intruders necessitates a particular daily inspection. But this pest to the husbandman not having made its appearance in the interior districts, renders the raising of tobacco in such localities comparatively cheap and easy,— the time and attention thus set free representing nearly one-half of the whole of the care and labour bestowed upon the preliminary operations of the tobacco grower.

We trust, therefore, that in every part of the colony an effort will be made to test the capabilities of each particular district for the production of tobacco. Some —as we have shown—present peculiar facilities for the exercise of this description of rural industry in consequence of exemption from the attacks of insects. Others will, without doubt, be found to possess superior recommendations in connection with its yield of this article on other accounts. The best descriptions of imported negrohead may be rivalled, if not excelled, by the leaf produced under conditions accidentally or permanently present in particular localities, but with which we have been hitherto unacquainted, in any event the preeminent suitableness of our soil and climate generally for this species of production will be shown to be indubitable.

The imporS!|nce of making choice of a proper ! sort amongst the numerous varieties of the plant, was touched upon in a former article upon this subject. That which is commonly called il the Virginian," however, is pretty generally procurable from seedsmen and farmers. But the intending grower should make trial of as many different kinds of seed obtained from as great a number of persons as possible. Seed which has been long kept in a dry place is seldom fruitful, and the kind under which it may be classed is necessarily very dubious. But under existing circumstances, persons not previously engaged in the business, should not be more nice than wise in regard to the description of tobacco seed they now sow. They should simply provide themselves as extensively as practicable from various sources. But the object they should mainly keep in view during the next four months, is the raising an abundant supply of plants. This is an indispensable preliminary to success. The soil selected for seed beds should be slightly sandy and not over rich. It should be deeply broken up and well pulverised. The ashes of light brushwood, freshly burnt, should be well mixed by means of a rake with the surface mould. The seed should then be equably scattered and simply trodden in the face of the bed being levelled with the back of a spade. The bed should then be covered in such a way as to servo for a protection from the frost, whilst admitting a free circulation of air. If the season be drv, the beds should be watered from time to time, so'as to keep them in a moderately moist condition. Towards the approach of spring, the young plants should be occasionally exposed for the purpose of seasoning them against the time when frosts having ceased, the shelter shall be altogether removed. Should an untimely frost occur after this has taken place, the plants will suffer little damage if closely covered up before the rising of the sun, and left so until the evening. The experiment has been tried, with some success, of sowing tobacco seed in the fields in holes prepared for the purpose, at regular distances, just as seed maize is deposited in places in which the subsequent maize plants are intended to grow. This method, in a humid season, may answer expectation, but it is supposed to bo unreliable should the weather at the commencement of spring happen to be droughty. Under any circumstances, however, so Jar as our experience goes, a very considerable number of forward, healthy plants will furnish an ample recompense for the labour bestowed, although the greater number of holes may remain to bo tilled up from the plant bods. The plan is worth carrying out, in combination

with the old practice of plenty of seed beds in cases where a large breadth of land is proposed to be laid down with tobacco.

Colonial Tobacco.—The Gecbng Advertiser says—" Whatever other countries may have cause for grumbling, in connection with the American quarrel, in one respect this colony has certainly reason for gratulation ; for the stimulus which it has given to tobacco cultivation is rapidly extending over the length and breadth of Victoria, and already there are in our market colonial cigars and tobacco which have been tested and approved by very competent judges. The samples of each kind that we have seen came from the establishment of Messrs. Sander and Co., and though the cigars have been manufactured by young persons who were previously quite unskilled in such labour, the colour of the ash and its retention of the conelike form until half the cigar has been consumed, the delicate blue tinge of the smoke, and especially the fragrant aroma, prove unmistakeablv that the material is all right, and that skilled manipulation and age are the only other essentials needed to place our native produce on a par with the best imported article. To the cut tobacco, which also was grown at Mount Moriac, a similar description would in most respects be applicable, but its newness gives it an amount of strength which would be relished only by experienced smokers. In the case of colonial wines, those who endeavoured to foster the taste for these Victorian beverages, and to establish their sale as a branch of our regular trade, received honourable mention in our columns ; we had done the same in reference to the factors of leather and ropes, of biscuits and confectionery, of candles and soap, of cheese and butter, and on the palmam qui meruit ferat principle, we now put on record this first introduction at Geelong of the sale of tobacco produced in this district. Such claims on our pen cannot reach us too often ; for we regard the development of our natural resources, and the creation of new industries amongst us, as the harbingers and the earnest of future prosperity and comfort and wealth."