that they may afford seeds for another year. Throughout the
summer the other plants are from time to time, pruned at the
top, and the whole field is carefully weeded to make the
growth of the leaf so much the more vigorous.

"In the month of September, from the sixteenth day, and
between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the
afternoon, the best leaves are to be taken off. It is more
advantageous to pluck the leaves when they are dry than when
they are moist. When plucked they are to be immediately
brought home, and hung upon cords within the house to dry,
in as full exposure as is possible to the influence of the
sun and air; but so as to receive no rain. In this exposure
they remain till the months of March and April following;
when they are to be put up in bundles, and conveyed to the
store-house, in which they may be kept, that they may be
there till more perfectly dried by a moderate heat. Within
eight days they must be removed to a different place, where
they are to be sparingly sprinkled with salt water, and left
till the leaves shall be no longer warm to the feeling of
the hand. A barrel of water with six handfuls of salt are
the proportions. After all this the tobacco leaves may be
laid aside for commercial exportation. They will remain
fresh for three years."

[Illustration: Enriching plant-bed.]

In Maryland they formerly prepared the land for a plant-bed by burning
upon it a great quantity of brush-wood, afterwards raking the surface
fine; the seed was then sowed broadcast. The young plants were kept
free from weeds, and were transplanted when about two inches high. The
cultivation of tobacco gradually spread from one State to another.
From Virginia it was introduced into North Carolina and Maryland and
finally Kentucky which is now the largest producing tobacco State in
the Union. The demand for Virginia tobacco continued to increase and
long before the Revolutionary war, Virginia exported annually
thousands of hogsheads of leaf tobacco. Half a century ago the plant
began to be cultivated in Ohio and from the first grew remarkably
well, producing a leaf adapted for both cutting and cigar purposes.

Tobacco was planted in New Netherland (New York) by the early Dutch
settlers and in 1638 "had become a staple production." In 1639 "from
Virginia numbers of persons whose terms of servic