The cultivation of tobacco in Algeria has proved most successful; in 1851, only 264,912 kilogrammes were produced; in 1852, the quantity had risen to 735,199 kilogrammes.  There are two crops in the year, the first being the best, but even this is capable of almost indefinite augmentation.

CULTURE OF TOBACCO IN THE EAST.

Having touched upon the practice of culture in the western world, we will now bend our steps towards the east, and it may be curious to notice the method pursued in cultivating and curing the celebrated Shiraz tobacco of Persia (Nicotiana Persica), which is so much esteemed for the delicacy of its flavor, and its aromatic quality.  It is thus described by an intelligent traveller.  The culture of the plant, it will be seen, is nearly the same; it is only the preparation of the tobacco that forms the difference:—­

In December the seed is sown in a dark soil, which, has been slightly manured (red clayey soils will not do).  To protect the seed, and to keep it warm, the ground is covered with light, thorny bushes, which are removed when the plants are three or four inches high; and during this period, the plants are watered every four or five days, only however in the event of sufficient rain to keep the soil well moistened not falling.  The ground must be kept wet until the plants are six to eight inches high, when they are transplanted into a well moistened soil, which has been made into trenches for them; the plants being put on the top of the ridges ten or twelve inches apart, while the trenched plots are made, so as to retain the water given.  The day they are transplanted, water must be given to them, and also every five or six days subsequently, unless rain enough falls to render this unnecessary.  When the plants have become from thirty to forty inches high, the leaves will be from three to fifteen inches long.  At this period, or when the flowers are forming, all the flower capsules are pinched or twisted off.  After this operation and watering being continued, the leaves increase in size and thickness until the month of August or September, when each plant is cut off close to the root, and again stuck firmly into the ground.  At this season of the year, heavy dews fall during the night; when exposed to these the color of the leaves change from green to the desired yellow.  During this stage, of course no water is given to the soil.  When the leaves are sufficiently yellow, the plants are taken from the earth early in the morning, and while they are yet wet from the dew, are heaped on each other in a high shed, the walls of which are made with light thorny bushes, where they are freely exposed to the wind.  While there, and generally in four or five days, those leaves which are still green become of the desired pale yellow color.  The stalks and centre stem of each leaf are now removed, and thrown away, the leaves are heaped together in