SEED AM) PLANT DISTRIBUTION. 75 



seed is from March 1 to April L5. Plants should be ready for trans- 

 planting about sixty days after sowing. 



One week before sowing the seed the bed should be thoroughly 

 cleaned and all straw and Leaves carefully raked oil. after which the 

 ground should be burned. This Is done to destroy all grass ami weed 

 seeds or roots which might otherwise conic up and choke the tobacco 

 plants. The burning i- done in the following manner: 



After raking the surface well, skids are laid i feet apart, running 

 the full length of the plat to he sown. A pile of wood is then laid 

 across the skids, running the width of the bed. The fire is started, 

 and a- fast a- the --round is thoroughly burned and covered with ashes 

 the tire and wood are drawn along the skids, wood being continuously 

 added. After the entire bed is burned the ground is again raked to 

 remove the coals, letting the ashes remain. The soil is then spaded 

 to a depth of 1 inches, all the roots and tufts being carefully taken 

 out. If the soil need-, fertilizing after the spading is completed (the 

 seed bed should he very rich in order to give thrifty, healthy plant-). 

 such quantity of fertilizer as may he necessary is thrown broadcast 

 over the surface. Any complete guano may he used. The bed is 

 asrain raked with an iron-toothed rake to mix the fertilizer well with 

 the soil and to have the surface smooth and loose. 



The bed should be divided into -'lands" about 1 feet wide, leaving 

 narrow walks between. Each land should be measured to ascertain 

 how many square feet it contains, and enough seed should be mixed 

 with ashes to sow one land at a time, at the rate of 2 tablespoonfuls of 

 the seeds to 100 square yards. This is the usual allowance for 1 acre 

 to be planted. After the sowing is completed the bed should be rolled 

 with a heavy roller. If the ground is dry it should be watered imme- 

 diately after the sowing of the seed, and this should be continued from 

 time to time as the soil may require. In the absence of rain, after 

 the plants are up, watering should still be practiced. 



The manner of transplanting, the kind of soil to be selected, the 

 methods of field culture, and the manipulation of harvesting and 

 curiner are the same in both northern and southern districts. 



Florida Cuban Tobacco. 



The seed bed for this variety of tobacco should be the same as that 

 for the Sumatra in the South, and should be cleared, burned, and 

 prepared in the same manner. The time for sowing the seed is from 

 January 15 to March 1, and sometimes as late as April. January and 

 February sowings should give plants large enough for transplanting 

 within sixty or seventy days; those of March and April within forty 

 to sixty days. Transplanting is done in the same way as with the 

 Sumatra, except that the plants are set 11 inches apart. The same 

 rules as to watering and early cultivation apply. 



