486 Transactions of the 



they may do 'will become quite apparent in the losses of plants and the 

 condition of those that survive in the two or three rows adjacent to such 

 stuff. 



The shovel plow may now be kept running steadily until the plants 

 become too large to admit its passage without breaking the leaves. 

 This promotes the free rise of moisture. 



The first hoeing should be given as soon as convenient. An advantage 

 "will be found in first striking the hoe horizontally at a depth of about 

 two inches, both before and behind the plant. Draw the earth snugly 

 up about the stalk to the stems of the first leaves. Should weeds come 

 after this, the crop should be hoed again. 



At this point there may be a rest of two to four weeks (the only one 

 of the season) before the next operations — worming and suckering. 

 More likely than not, however, about this time (which, for the average 

 case, I take to be the latter part of May), the tobacco (or horn) worm 

 will appear. This opportunity may be availed of to make the racks upon 

 which the tobacco is to be hung during the process of curing, to be de- 

 scribed in the succeeding section, entitled " Cutting and Curing." 



CULTIVATING — WORMING. 



The cultivator or shovel plow is to be kept running as long as the 

 size of the plants will allow. 



A sharp lookout is to be kept for the first appearance of the tobacco 

 worm. In Central California it may not appear before the end of April 

 or perhaps May. Further south it may be looked for earlier. The 

 worm grows very rapidly, and from the time it is half grown its rav- 

 ages are grievous. When plants have made a good growth — say a foot 

 or fifteen inches in height at the time the worm appears — he will com- 

 monly complete his growth upon a single plant, of which one half or 

 more of the leaves will have half their value destroyed by this crea- 

 ture; but should plants be backward and small, the worm may operate 

 on two or three or even four before completing his work, devouring 

 them almost entirely. His parting act, too, is his most mischievous: he 

 takes his last meal off the tender stalk at top, which thenceforth grows 

 no more. All considerations point to the importance of catching the 

 worm at his first appearance, and this, as it happens, is as easy to do as 

 to take him at a later stage. 



The worm begins operating on the lower leaves of the plant, usually 

 near the stalk. He begins cutting half-moons out of the edge of the 

 leaf, to the concave edge of which he clings. At this time he may be 

 less than a quarter of an inch in length, no thicker than a hair, white — 

 but he carries a mark that the eye can quickly learn to catch: it is the 

 characteristic " horn " situated on his back near the tail — at this sta^e 

 a minute black hair — that can be seen sticking out from the edge of the 

 half-moon, or sticking up from the under side of the leaf when it is 

 turned up, when the body of the worm itself would not otherwise have 

 been noticed. From this earliest stage to the end of his career the 

 worm leaves his sign behind him, in the form of black excrement, which 

 falls upon the leaf under that on which he is operating. This is called 

 "sign." At first it is a black dust, and ma}* be always distinguished 

 from other dust, because it is black. As the worm grows he mounts 

 the plant, operating on successive leaves, his course distinctly marked 

 by the "sign " remaining on the leaves beneath, as well as by the rav- 

 ages of their outlines. From the time the worm has attained a length 



