or less common in tobacco lands and all harbor tobacco wilt. The growth 

 of the germ on these weeds accounts for the prevalence of wilt on lands 

 which have not been tilled for a year, and, in part, for the occurrence of 

 wilt on new land. Then, too, the fact is not generally appreciated that 

 Irish potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, and velvet beans are all sub- 

 ject to the same disease. These crops must not, therefore, be grown on 

 fields immediately before or after planting to tobacco. 



CROP ROTATION SYSTEMS. 



There is no more important matter for the tobacco grower to consider 

 than the management of his fields so that they will be in the best shape 

 for tobacco at the proper time. In fact, the quality of the tobacco 

 produced depends quite as much upon how the fields have been handled 

 in rotation between successive crops of tobacco as upon the fertilizer 

 used or the cultivation given directly to the tobacco crop itself. This 

 proper management of the fields becomes doubly important when it 

 becomes necessary to control tobacco wilt. Further, growers have not 

 fully appreciated the necessity of adopting some definite rotation sys- 

 tem and adhering to it where this dual purpose must be met. To meet 

 this need, therefore, several systems are suggested, some of which require 

 four years, some five, and some six, between ci'ops of tobacco. 



EOTATION 1. 



First year — Tobacco, followed by fall sowing of oats and vetch or rye and 

 vetch for seed. 



Second year — Soy beans or cowpeas, sown after harvest, followed in fall by 

 rye or crimson clover (to be plowed under the following spring). 



Third year — Cotton, followed by rye in fall. 



Fourth year — Tobacco. 



This rotation is suggested for land that is only slightly infested with 

 wilt. It is too short a rotation to be used on fields that are badly 

 infested, and therefore is not recommended in such cases. 



Virginia Gray or Turf oats or Abruzzi rye should be seeded with 

 hairy vetch, as they will mature seed about the same time as the 

 vetch. If this crop is grown for market the vetch seed can be sep- 

 arated from the rye or oats. If not, this is a good combination to 

 sow for soil improvement or for hay. In subsequent rotations where 

 vetch is recommended as a cover crop to be plowed under, consideration 

 should be given to the fact that the cost of seeding an acre with vetch 

 is about twice as great at present prices as when crimson clover is used 

 as a cover crop. If either of these crops is permitted to mature a crop 

 of seed, however, a good cover crop will appear during the following fall 

 and winter from the seed which have shattered at time of harvesting. 



Soy beans or cowpeas can be used as a money crop if the acreage 

 planted is sufficient to justify the purchase of a harvester. Otherwise, 

 they may be cut for hay or be plowed under as a soil-improving crop, 



