Tobacco: Growing, Curing, & Manufacturing: A Handbook for Planters in All Parts of the World
Science
Tobacco: Growing, Curing, & Manufacturing: A Handbook for Planters in All Parts of the World
Tobacco; Tobacco industry
The results of Nessler’s experiments clearly show that it is not
sufficient to apply the element most needed by the plant—potash—in any
form, but that, to produce a good tobacco, it is necessary to apply it
in a particular combination. It was found that potash carbonate applied
as manure produced the best tobacco: it burned for the longest time, and
its ash contained most potash carbonate; whereas potash chloride
produced a much inferior tobacco. The assertion of other experimenters
that chlorides produce a bad tobacco is thus confirmed. Potash sulphate
and lime sulphate produced a good tobacco. It may be noticed here that
tobacco which was manured with gypsum contained a great amount of potash
carbonate in the ash, probably due to the fact that gypsum is a solvent
for the inert potash salts. From the foregoing, it may be concluded that
in tobacco cultivation, the elements potassium and calcium should be
restored to the soil in the form of carbonate, sulphate, or nitrate, but
not as chlorides. Poudrette, or prepared night-soil, generally contains
a considerable amount of chlorides, and is not well suited as manure for
fine tobacco. It has been found that fields manured with chlorides
produced heavily; a small proportion of chlorides may therefore be
applied in this form, whenever quality is of less importance than
quantity. Farmyard manure may suffice when tobacco is cultivated in
proper rotation, but here also, unless the soil be very rich in
potassium and calcium, the application of some special manure will
greatly enhance the value of the outturn. Wood-ashes are a valuable
supplement to stable dung. Gypsum is an excellent dressing for soils in
a good manurial condition: it supplies the lime needed by the tobacco,
and acts as a solvent on the inert potash salts. Gypsum applied on poor
land, however, hastens the exhaustion of the soil. It is said that crops
manured with gypsum suffer less from the effects of drought, and require
less irrigation, than when manured otherwise: the leaves of plants that
had been manured with gypsum exhaling less water than when manured with
other substances. If this assertion be correct, gypsum would be
invaluable to the Indian cultivator.
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