re transplanted, water must be given to
them, and also every five or six days subsequently, unless rain
enough falls to render this unnecessary. When the plants have become
from thirty to forty inches high, the leaves will be from three to
fifteen inches long. At this period, or when the flowers are
forming, all the flower capsules are pinched or twisted off. After
this operation and watering being continued, the leaves increase in
size and thickness until the month of August or September, when
each plant is cut off close to the root, and again stuck firmly into
the ground. At this season of the year, heavy dews fall during the
night; when exposed to these the color of the leaves change from
green to the desired yellow. During this stage, of course no water
is given to the soil. When the leaves are sufficiently yellow, the
plants are taken from the earth early in the morning, and while they
are yet wet from the dew, are heaped on each other in a high shed,
the walls of which are made with light thorny bushes, where they are
freely exposed to the wind. While there, and generally in four or
five days, those leaves which are still green become of the desired
pale yellow color. The stalks and centre stem of each leaf are now
removed, and thrown away, the leaves are heaped together in the
drying house for three or four days more, when they are in a fit
state for packing. For this operation the leaves are carefully
spread on each other and formed into sorts of cakes, the
circumference from four to five feet, and three to four inches
thick, great care being taken not to break or injure the leaves.

Bags made of strong cloth, but thin and very open at the sides, are
filled with these cakes, and pressed very strongly down on each
other; the leaves would be broken if this were not attended to. When
the bags are filled, they are placed separately in a drying house,
and turned daily. If the leaves were so dry that there would be a
risk of their breaking during the operation of packing, a very
slight sprinkling of water is given them to enable them to withstand
it without injury. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough, and of
a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell.

In India, the Surat, Bilsah, and Sandoway (Arracan) varieties of
tobacco are the most celebrated. The two firs