TOBACCO. 195 



Mr. Allen. No ; I never put anything round the plant. 

 We set out the tobacco in the way we think it ought to be set 

 out, and then hoe it and keep the ridges in their original po- 

 sition, in order that the bottom leaves may not rest on the 

 ground. The ridge protects the bottom leaves. We do not 

 design to pull any earth away from the plant, but just stir the 

 ground around it. 



Another thing which I deem very essential is this : the 

 earth around the plants needs to be stirred very soon after 

 they are set. Just as soon as you are sure they are go- 

 ing to live, if it is the next day after they are set, you want 

 to set your hoc going and keep it going. Keep your tobacco 

 land thorouglily pulverized ; do not allow it to get baked up. 

 The great secret in raising tobacco is to keep it growing from 

 the time you put it into tlie ground until you harvest it. Any 

 check, whether from lack of manure, from< drouth, or from 

 too much water — any thing, no matter what, that checks the 

 growth of the plant, injures your leaf, and there is where the 

 white stem comes from. But if you can keep your crop growing 

 from the time the plants are set until you hang it up in the 

 shed, I don't think you will have any trouble. You may have 

 such a season as they had out west, with no rain at all to 

 dampen the tobacco, but if you can have a fog once a week 

 that will come into your shed and dampen your tobacco down 

 thoroughly, and then the wind blow up and carry it off, you 

 will have a good quality of tobacco. But if, when you hang 

 it up, it is a dry time, it will dry up and there will be no 

 character to the leaf. That is what is the matter with the 

 Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan tobacco this year. It lias been 

 dried up so that tlie leaf has no character. That was the trou- 

 ble a year ago this fall, it was so dry. 



Question. Does your tobacco ever burn black ? 



Mr. Allen. Not very often, unless it is in clay. A clay 

 loam is the worst kind of soil to put tobacco on. 



Mr. . I am told that Peruvian guano will make it 



burn black. 



Mr. Allen. I have heard it said that it would, but I do 

 not use enough on my land to affect it any way. 



