This is a plant abhorred by everything but man and the tobacco-worm. Its
use for chewing and snuffing is happily becoming more and more offensive
to refined society, and we hope it may, after a long struggle, go out of
use. For those who will cultivate it as an article of commerce, the
following brief directions are sufficient. Burn over a small bed, on
which sow the seed early in March. When the leaves are as large as a
quarter of a dollar, transplant them in deep, rich soil, or on new land,
in rows three feet apart each way, or four feet one way and two the
other. Tend as cabbage. It is necessary, twice in the season, to
destroy, by hand, the large green worms that feed on this plant. When
the plants are from two and a half to three and a half feet high,
according to the richness of the soil on which they grow, pick out the
head or blossom-buds, except in the few plants you would have go to
seed. Pinch off also the suckers, or shoots behind the leaves, as they
come out. When the leaves are full grown and begin to ripen, which is
known by the small, dusky spots appearing on the leaves, cut up the
stalks and lay them down singly to wilt; when they are thoroughly
wilted, lay them together, that they may sweat for forty-eight hours,
then hang them up in a tolerably tight room to dry--hang across poles,
one on each side. A sharp stick put through the but of the stalks and
laid over the pole, leaving one stalk on each side, is a very good
method. When it becomes well dried, pick off the leaves, and tie the
stems together in small bunches, and pack away in hogsheads or boxes, in
a dry place.
We recommend to every agriculturist to cultivate a little tobacco--not
for himself or others to chew, snuff, or smoke, but to use in destroying
insects. A strong decoction, used in washing animals, will destroy lice
on horses and cattle, and ticks on sheep. Tobacco-water applied to
plants, or trees, will effectually destroy all insects with which they
may be infested. Boil tobacco-stems or stalks, or the refuse-tobacco of
the cigar-makers, until you make a strong decoction, and apply with a
syringe, or in any other way, and it will prove more effectual than
anything else known. Tobacco-stems, stalks, or leaves, laid around
peach-trees in the month of May, will protect them from the attacks of
the borer. This is also a good manure for peach-trees.