In Maryland the seed is sown in beds of fine mould, and the plants arising therefrom are transplanted in the beginning of May.  They are set at the distance of three or four feet apart, and are hilled, and kept continually free from weeds.  When as many leaves have shot out as the soil will nourish to advantage, the top of the plant is broken off, which of course prevents its growing higher.  It is carefully kept clear from worms, and the suckers which put out between the leaves are taken off at proper times, till the plant arrives at perfection, which is in August.  When the leaves turn of a brownish color, and begin to be spotted, the plants are cut down and hung up to dry, after having sweated in heaps one night.  When the leaves can be handled without crumbling, which is always in moist weather, they are stripped from the stalks, tied up in bundles, and packed for exportation in hogsheads.  No suckers nor ground leaves are allowed to be merchantable.  An industrious person may manage 6,000 plants of tobacco, which will yield 1,000 lbs. of dried leaves, and also four acres of Indian corn.

Miller, an American author, thus describes the mode of culture:—­

When a regular plantation of tobacco is intended, the beds being prepared and well turned up with the hoe, the seed, on account of its smallness and to prevent the ravages of ants, is mixed with ashes and sown upon them, a little before the rainy season.  The beds are raked, or trampled with the foot, to make the seed take the sooner.  The plants appear in two or three weeks.  As soon as they have acquired four leaves, the strongest are carefully drawn up and planted in the field by a line, at a distance of about three feet from each other.  If no rain fall, they should be watered two or three times.  Every morning and evening the plants must he looked over in order to destroy a worm which sometimes invades the bud.  When they are about four or five inches high, they are to be cleaned from weeds and moulded up.  As soon as they have eight or nine leaves, and are ready to put forth a stalk, the top is nipped off in order to make the leaves longer and thicker.  After this the buds which sprout at the joints of the leaves are also plucked off, and not a day is suffered to pass without examining the leaves to destroy the large caterpillar, which is often most destructive to them.  When they are fit for cutting, which is known by the brittleness of the leaves, they are cut off with a knife close to the ground, and, after lying some time, are carried to the drying-shed or house, where the plants are hung up by pairs upon lines, leaving a space between, that they may not touch one another.  When perfectly dry, the leaves are stripped from the stalks and made into small bundles, tied with one of the leaves.  These bundles are laid in heaps and covered with blankets; care is taken not to overheat them, for which reason the heaps are laid open to the air from time to time,