t are found to be good
for cultivation in the district about Calcutta, but the Cabool is
still more to be preferred. Tobacco requires in the East, for its
growth, a soil as fertile and as well manured as for the production of
the poppy or opium. It is, therefore, often planted in the spaces
enriched by animal and vegetable exuviae, among the huts of the
natives. I have tried seed in different soils, says Capt. C.
Cowles,--namely a light garden mould with a large portion of old house
rubbish, dug to a good depth, which had a top dressing of the
sweepings of the farm-yard and cow-houses; a rather heavy loam, highly
manured with burnt and decayed vegetables, and old cow dung; the third
was a patch of ground, which was originally an unwholesome swamp, from
being eighteen inches to two feet, lower than the surrounding land;
the soil appeared to be a hard sterile clay, and covered with long
coarse grass and rushes. As there was a tank near it, I cut away one
side of it, and threw the soil over the ground, bringing it rather
above the level. Such was its appearance, (a hard compost marly clay,)
that I expected no other good from it than that of raising the land so
as to throw the water off; contrary, however, to my expectations, it
produced a much finer crop of tobacco than either of the other soils,
and with somewhat less manure. The agricultural process is limited to
some practical laws founded on experience, and these are subject to
two principal agents; viz., the soil and climate. With respect to the
former, it is the practice amongst the growers in tobacco countries,
such as Cuba, the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and
the Philippine Islands, to select a high and dry piece of land, of a
siliceous nature, and combined with iron, if possible; and with
respect to the latter, there are seasons of the year too well known
to the planters to need any explanation. The only difference (if there
is any) depends on the geographical situation of the place, with
respect to its temperature, or in the backwardness or advancement of
seasons, and even on the duration of the same--in which circumstances
the planter takes advantage of the one for the other.

The influence of a burning climate may be modified by choosing the
coolest month of the year, whereas the soil cannot be altered without
incurring great expense. I have seen tobacco lose its natural quality
and degenerate by transplanting from one soil to another, althoug