NOTES.

Note A.

A memoir on the cultivation and use of Asclepias Syraica, by J. A. Moller, may be found in Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, Vol. viii. p. 149. Its chief uses were for beds, cloth, hats and paper. It was found that from eight to nine pounds of the silk occupied a space of from five to six cubic feet, and were sufficient for a bed, coverlet and two pillows.-The shortness of the fibre prevented it from being spun and woven alone. It however was mixed with flax, wool, &c. in certain stuffs to advantage. Hats made with it were very light and soft. The stalks afforded paper in every respect resembling that obtained from rags. The plant is easily propagated by seeds or slips. A plantation containing thirty thousand plants yeilded from six hundred to eight hundred pounds of silk.

Note B.

Tobacco was discovered in Cuba, Florida and Mexico, nearly three centuries ago, and was soon after introduced from this continent into Europe. Whether or not any species of it was cultivated in the East before the discovery of America, is a point of no consequence in regard to its American nativity. The extent of country throughout which it was used by the aborigines of this continent, renders it probable that it must have been cultivated in various parts of America for many centuries previous to its discovery.

The following account of the present mode of cultivating Tobacco in our Southern States is extracted from An Historical and Practical Essay on the Culture and Commerce of Tobacco. By William Tatham. London, 1800.

First, of preparing the Tobacco Ground.

"There are two distinct and separate methods of preparing the Tobacco ground: the one is applicable to the preparation of new and uncultivated lands, such as are in a state of nature, and require to be cleared of the heavy timber and other productions with which Providence has stocked them; and the other method is designed to meliorate and revive lands of good foundation, which have been heretofore cultivated, and, in some measure, exhausted by the calls of agriculture and evaporation.

"The process of preparing new lands begins as early in the winter as the housing and managing the antecedent crop will permit, by grubbing the under growth with a mattock; felling the timber with a poll-axe; lopping off the tops, and cutting the bodies into lengths of about eleven feet, which is about the customary length of an American fence rail, in what is called a worm or pannel fence. During this part of the process the negro women, boys, and weaker labourers, are employed in piling or throwing the brush-wood, roots, and small wood, into heaps to be burned; and after such logs or stocks are selected as are suitable to be malled into rails, make clap-boards, or answer for other more particular occasions of the planter, the remaining logs are rolled into heaps by means of hand-spikes and skids; but the Pennsylvania and German farmers, who are more conversant with animal powers than the Virginians, save much of this labour by the use of a pair of horses with a half sledge, or a pair of truck wheels. The burning of this brush-wood, and the log piles, is a business for all hands after working hours; and as nightly revels are peculiar to the African constitution, this

part of the labour proves often a very late employment, which affords many scenes of rustic mirth.

"When this process has cleared the land of its various natural incumbrances, (to attain which end is very expensive and laborious,) the next part of the process is that of the hoe; for the plough is an implement which is rarely used in new lands when they are either designed for tobacco or meadow.

“There are three kinds of the hoe which are applied to this tillage: the first is what is termed the sprouting hoe, which is a smaller species of mattock that serves to break up any particular hard part of the ground, to grub up any smaller sized grubs which the mattock or grubbing hoe may have omitted, to remove small stones and other partial impediments to the next process.

“The narrow or hilling hoe follows the operation of the sprouting hoe. It is generally from six to eight inches wide, and ten or twelve in the length of the blade, according to the strength of the person who is to use it; the blade is thin, and by means of a moveable wedge which is driven into the eye of the hoe, it can be set more or less digging (as it is termed,) that is, on a greater or less angle with the helve, at pleasure. In this respect there are few instances where the American blacksmith is not employed to alter the eye of an English-made hoe before it is fit for use; the industrious and truly useful merchants of Glasgow have paid more minute attention to this cir

cumstance.

"The use of this hoe is to break up the ground and throw it into shape; which is done by chopping the clods until they are sufficiently fine, and then drawing the earth round the foot until it forms a heap round the projected leg of the labourer like a mole bill, and nearly as high as the knee; he then draws out his foot, flattens the top of the hill by a dab with the flat part of the hoe, and advances forward to the next hill in the same manner, until the whole piece of ground is prepared. The centre of these

hills are in this manner guessed by the eye; and in most instances they approach near to lines of four feet one way, and three feet the other. The planter always endeavours to time this operation so as to tally with the growth of plants, so that he may be certain by this means to pitch his crop within season.

"The third kind of hoe is the broad or weeding hoe. This is made use of during the cultivation of the crop, to keep it clean from the weeds. It is wide upon the edge, say from ten inches to a foot, or more; of thinner substance than the hilling hoe, not near so deep in the blade, and the eye is formed more bent and shelving than the latter, so that it can be set upon a more acute angle upon the helve at pleasure, by removing the wedge.

Of the Season for Planting.

"The terin, season for planting, signifies a shower of rain of sufficient quantity to wet the earth to a degree of moisture which may render it safe to draw the young plants from the plant bed, and transplant them into the hills which are prepared for them in the field, as described under the last head; and these seasons generally commence in April, and terminate with what is termed the long season in May; which (to make use of an Irishism) very frequently happens in June; and is the opportunity which the planter finds himself necessitated to seize with eagerness for the pitching of his crop; a term which comprehends the ultimate opportunity which the spring will afford him for planting a quantity equal to the capacity of the collective power of his labourers when applied in cultivation.

"By the time which these seasons approach, nature has so ordered vegetation, that the weather has generally enabled the plants (if duly sheltered from the spring frosts, a circumstance to which a planter should always be attentive in selecting his plant patch) to shoot forward in sufficient strength to bear the vicissitude of transplantation.

"They are supposed to be equal to meet the imposition of this task when the leaves are about the size of a dollar; but this is more generally the minor magnitude of the leaves; and some will be of course about three or four times that medium dimension.

"Thus, when a good shower or season happens at this period of the year, and the field and plants are equally ready for the intended union, the planter hurries to the plant bed, disregarding the teeming element, which is doomed to wet his skin, from the view of a bountiful harvest, and having carefully drawn the largest sizeable plants, he proceeds to the next operation.

of Planting.

"The office of planting the tobacco is performed by two or more persons, in the following manner: The first person bears, suspended upon one arm, a large basket full of the plants which have been just drawn and brought from the plant bed to the field, without waiting for an intermission of the shower, although it should rain ever so heavily; such an opportunity indeed, instead of being shunned, is eagerly sought after, and is considered to be the sure and certain means of laying a good foundation, which cherishes the hope of a bounteous return. The person who bears the basket proceeds thus by rows from hill to hill; and upon each hill he takes care to drop one of his plants. Those who follow make a hole in the centre of each hill with their fingers, and having adjusted the tobacco plant in its natural position, they knead the earth round the root with their hands, until is of a sufficient consistency to sustain the plant against wind and weather. In this condition they leave the field for a few days until the plants shall have formed their radifications; and where any of them shall have casually perished, the ground is followed over again by successive replantings, until the crop is rendered complete.