Orinoco and Yellow Mammoth.— These varieties are used for plug wrappers and fillers and are stemmed for export trade. They are adapted to rich, well-drained soils, doing especially well on alluvial soils underlaid with red clay subsoil. The Orinoco variety has short, broad leaves, while the Yellow Mammoth has large leaves, both varieties having a rapid rate of growth. The Little Orinoco type has a long, narrow, tapering leaf, and is the sweetest variety grown. The Yellow Mammoth is largely exported for Swiss trade, and its culture is mainly confined to Tennessee. The Orinoco type is grown in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Missouri.
Virginia types (Blue Pryor, Sun-Cured and White Stem).—These are adapted to sandy soil, underlaid with red or yellow clay subsoils. They have very broad, large leaves of fine, silky texture, with rather tough fibers and usually have bright, fine colors. Some of the best grades are used for cigar wrappers and others for smoking purposes. They are grown in Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana.
Pipe tobaccos.
North Carolina Bright Yellow.—This variety is used for manufacturing plug and smoking tobaccos, cigarettes and for export purposes. It is adapted to sandy soils, underlaid by a red or yellow clay subsoil. The deeper the sand the brighter the tobacco produced, and the nearer the surface the subsoil conies the darker in color is the tobacco. The leaves are light and spongy, of rather thick texture, set close together on the stem, with an erect habit of growth, but drooping at the ends, the tops often touching the ground. It is a modi fied type of the native Maryland and Virginia tobaccos. It is grown in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.
.115ryland Maryland smoking variety is used for manufacturing and export pur poses. It is adapted to clay loam and sandy soil. The leaves are thick and coarse in texture, but are light and chaffy when cured. They have a semi erect habit of growth, drooping at the tips, and vary in length from twenty to thirty-six inches and in width from ten to twenty-six inches. The plants bear ten to eighteen leaves and reach an average height of about four feet. This variety was discovered in Maryland when the first settlers explored that region. It is mostly exported to France, Germany and Holland. It is grown in
Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. From the Maryland tobacco many of the important native varieties have been developed by growing in differ ent sections of the country and by continued selec tion of seed for a particular type.
Sumatra tobacco.
The seed-beds.— The place selected for the seed bed for Sumatra tobacco should have a slightly southern exposure in order to get the full benefit of the warm rays of the sun in the early spring and should be permanent. The slope should be sufficient to insure perfect drainage at all times. It is desirable that the seed-bed be surrounded by board walls and covered with regular tobacco tenting cloth or glass sash. The cover will protect the tender plants from the cold north winds and produce more uniform and favorable conditions, in suring early, rapid growth.
The soil should be abundantly fertilized every spring and kept free from weeds and grass, as, under these conditions, it becomes better adapted to plant-bed purposes each succeeding year. The most desirable soil seems to be a rich, friable, sandy loam. Deep plowing or spading should be avoided, the usual depth being four or five inches. The ground should be harrowed and stirred with hand-rakes until thoroughly pulverized, and all roots, tufts and clods of earth should be carefully removed. After this preparation, a liberal applica tion of fertilizer rich in nitrogen and potash should be evenly distributed over the bed. A fertilizer containing 10 per cent of ammonia, 8 per cent of available phosphoric acid and 12 per cent of solu ble potash is highly recommended. Chlorin in any form must be avoided.
There is such a limited amount of plant-food in tobacco seed because of its small size, that the re serve material for the nourishment of the young plants is soon exhausted ; consequently the tobacco seedlings are forced to prepare their own food much sooner than is the case with most other crops. For this reason it is absolutely necessary for tobacco-growers to have the soil and plant-food in the seed-beds in the best possible condition for use by the young plants, in order to aid the slow growing young plants during the critical period of the first stages of growth. After applying the fertilizer the bed should be thoroughly stirred again and left very smooth, in which condition it is ready for the seed.