284 Transactions of the 



seed. When sown, the ashes ought to present the appearance of a light 

 snowfall, and not look patchy and blotchy. 



Next roll thoroughly with the roller already described, allowing it to 

 rest on the bed and act by its own weight only, not pressing it. In this 

 operation, if the roller be passed either lengthwise of the bed or directly 

 across it, it will shape the surface into slight undulations or form de- 

 pressions or runnels to which water will tend or accumulate; the roller 

 should be worked along the bed so as to make a set of zigzag curves from 

 one end of it to the other. The earth must be dry enough not to adhere 

 to the roller; sowing should only be done when it is in this condition. 

 Boiling is really the test of proper condition. Nor can sowing be done 

 properly when there is any wind. If winds be persistent, the early 

 morning before they rise, and the evening after they have ceased, can be 

 availed of. Should a portion of the mixed ashes and seed be left over to 

 be sown at a subsequent time, they must be again dampened and again 

 run through the sieve, for this time they are bound to be lumpy. 



If these operations be all performed as directed, the product ought to 

 be a set of plant-beds that may be confidently looked to to yield in due 

 season an abundant suppty of thrifty plants, coming on well together. 



WATERING. 



After the surface of these beds shall be once wetted, whether by rain 

 or by watering, it must not be allowed to become again dry till the 

 young plants are fairly advanced. It must be clearly understood that a 

 single drying out to the depth of an inch or even less will be fatal to a 

 large part of the sowing. The watering is of course most easily done 

 with a hose and force pump, but where the amount of beds does not ex- 

 ceed six hundred yards — say for a crop of forty acres or thereabouts — 

 one man can w T ater them with a good sized, ordinary garden watering 

 pot, provided he have but a few } T ards to carry the water. The water is 

 to be thrown on the top of the covers, through the sheer material of 

 which it is discharged as a fine spray on the surface of the bed. The 

 force pump ejects its stream with the proper force for this purpose. 

 Where a water pot is used it should be held as high as a man's shoulder, 

 in order that the water may fall on the cover with sufficient force to go 

 through it to the bed at the point of impact, instead of flowing down on 

 the under side of the cover to its lower edge. Ten gallons of water 

 applied daily to each cover will be ample. 



WEEDING. 



In from two weeks to four weeks after watering begins — the length 

 of time depending on the character of the season — the young plants may 

 be looked for. They appear with two tiny leaves, not larger than the 

 smallest pin's head. Before they become discoverable, weeds will»begiu 

 to show more or less abundantly. These, however, can commonly be 

 left till the young tobacco plants can be discovered quite thickly. Then 

 begin weeding. About twelve hours in advance of weeding wet down 

 thoroughly the beds that are to be weeded. Remove a cover and lay a 

 piece of board across the bed, one end resting on the back board o\' the 

 bed, tiic other on that of the next parallel bed. On the board a man 

 can recline and draw the weeds rapidly and thoroughly, moving the 

 board forward as his work progresses. In this work, care must be taken 

 not to disturb the ground. Where a weed appears deep-rooted, subject 



