TOBACCO. • 193 



it. It will never dry up any below. The only safe way of 

 getting out of that scrape is to string it right up again on your 

 poles. So all the way through, the closest attention is required 

 in order to secure your tobacco. 



My practice, and the practice in the vicinity where I live, 

 is to allow the buds to appear, and a few of the blossoms, be- 

 fore topping. We do not let the field blossom out, but the 

 buds appear, and once in a while you will see a l)lossom formed 

 as you look through the field. There is one reason for this. 

 We want to get the field in as uniform a state as possible, that 

 we may top it all at once. The doctor's plan of tof^ping low 

 is a good one, but there is one thing which he practices which 

 we never do; I never saw a man do it in our part of the 

 county. He says he breaks off the lower leaves. We do not 

 do any thing of the kind. 



Dr. Riggs. — May I inquire what the condition of those bot- 

 tom leaves is in your fields? 



Mr. Allen. — We prepare our land in a way similar to yours. 

 We do not use a plow, but a " ridger." This instrument is 

 like an A harrow turned the other way round. It makes a 

 ridge about six inches high. Then there is a piece of iron 

 that comes along behind and smooths off" the top, and you 

 have a ridge all ready for setting. Then we have a reel, made 

 like the reel of an old-fashioned spinning-wheel, a light thing, 

 and on the frame of that we nail little pieces of wood, just the 

 right distances apart, for a man to take hold of and draw 

 through the field and mark out the hills, just so far apart, and 

 then your ground is all ready for the plants. 



Question. — How close do you set your plants ? 



Mr. Allen. Twenty, twenty-two and twenty-four inches. 

 That depends a great deal upon the kind of tobacco you are 

 raising, and a great deal upon the character of your soil and 

 the condition of the land. If your land is prepared as it 

 ought to be, the plants ought to be set about twenty -two inch- 

 es apart, I should say. 



Question. Tiie rows ? 



Mr. Allen. Well, three feet or a little more. The object 

 in setting so thick is to get a fine leaf. There are half a dozen 

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