Tobacco Growing in Ireland

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 44, 3 November 1904, Page 15

Tobacco Growing in Ireland

It has been demonstrated time and again that the tobacco plant can be giown i n Ireland. Hitherto the industry (s-ays tbe ' Farmers' Gazette ') has not been attempted on a large scale owing to the want of proper facilities for the cunng7and manufacture of the leaf. The expense was also considered to be ijoo great in the event ot failure for an individual to launch out neavily. Now, however, an experiment on a considerable scale is being carried out by Colonel Everard, Randelstown, Navan. The minimum quantity required tio be grown by the Government was twenty acres, and Colonel Everard undertook xo .carry out the work. The twenty acres of tobacco plants are now (September) reaching maturity on trie iarm of Major Everard and others in the vicinity. Soon this crop will be harvested and then will come the test of curing, which should settle once and f o r all if tobacco is a profitable crop tor this country. Everything is being done on the most approved scale, so that the experiment will have a fair chance. The crop is, to all appearance, an excellent one. The seven acres grown in the \icvmty ot Randelstown is a fair specimen of the whole crop. The ground is tenacious clay, and the crop has been grown after all sorts of ordinary farm crops. Some of it was grown after oats, two-year-old lea, cabbages, mangolds, potatoes', or wheat. The manuring consisted of farmyard dung, artificials of various Kinds, and special manure compounded by Captain Everard, from information he received from growers m the United States. The ground was prepared as tor a green crop, and every care was taken in regard to planting and hoeing. The plants were grown in frames from seed, and after they got to a certain height they were planted out in beds. Here they came on rapidly, and were at the right size transferred to the drills The seed was procured from the State Company's farm in Virginia. The plants were put in forty-two inches apart every way, and there are upwards of 3600 of them to the acre. The plant grows in a single stern which sends out leaves in every dnection. When about ten leaves have made their appearance the upward growth of the plant is stopped by having the pomt broken 08. The whole forces of development are then centred on the leaves formed previous to the breaking off, and these grow very large. Some of those we measured at Randelstown wore upwards of forty inches in length, by twenty-two inches at the widest point. The stems averaged four and a halt feet in height, and besides having the top nipped oft to prevent more leaves forming than would be fully developed, care has to be taken to pick off ai.y dickers which form, so Mat the leaves will not be robbed of any nourishment. The handling of the splendid crop in the curing process and quality of leaf are the things which count. As to quality much has to be left to chance, but no expense is being spared in having the curing carried out, on the most approved principle. President Roosevelt has kindly placed at the disposal of those interested the services for a time of the United States Government expert from Kentticky. Meanwhile, the drying barns are nearing completion. These barns are perfect of their kind. They are divided into ten rooms each, twenty feet every way, and capable of holding the produce of one acre. The plants are split up to the butts and hung, over spars to dry, supported by the small part or end not cut through. It is estimated that two tons of moisture will be evaporated from the produce of each acre, and this will be accomplished by means of hot air process. The building is a substantial one, composed of concrete foundations, six-inch walls up to a certain distance, iron columns, wood, and corrugated iron. The wails are packed with sawdust and the roof course covered with a non-conducting and fire-proof felt. The floors are concrete to avoid damp arising from the ground. The doors are also specially fitted with insulating material, and everything is arranged in such a manner that the temperature can be regulated with the greatest ease. The thermometers arq fitted , in such a way that they can be read without going into any of the rooms. Each of vie apartments can also be regulated as to temperature independently of any of the others'. Colonel and Captain Everard have entered into the labor in the most public-spirited manner, and the country owes them a deep debt of gratitude.