TOBACCO. 439 



earlier, and considerable labor in weeding will be obviated. In the Northern States this is gen 

 erally done about the last of March, or the first of April. At the South it is done from the 

 first of January to the fifteenth of March, according to locality, the warmer climate admitting, 

 of course, of the earliest sowing. 



The best material for sprouting is well-rotted wood. Apple-tree wood is the best for 

 the purpose, although anything that will keep the seed damp will answer the purpose. The 

 &quot;soed is mixed through the rotten pulverized wood, and put in a pan or box and set in a 

 warm place near the stove until sprouted. It should be occasionally stirred, to insure sprout 

 ing evenly. After it has become well sprouted, it is scattered over the bed, usually being 

 left on the surface. Sometimes boards put on the bed for a few days after sowing will hasten 

 germination by keeping the soil damp, and pressing it upon the seed. 



When seed is not sprouted before sowing, it is generally mixed with fine earth, sand, or 

 wood-ashes, as it is so very small that it will not otherwise be as liable to be sown evenly, and 

 the plants come up uniformly. Great care should be used to scatter it as evenly as possible. 

 Scattering it both ways secures the best distribution. Where the seed is good, but little is 

 required. One tablespoonful, that will germinate readily, will be sufficient for setting five 

 or six acres of land, providing the plants should thrive well. 



However, as considerable of the seed may not come up, and as many of the young plants 

 are liable to be destroyed, it will be well to allow a larger proportion of seed, as it is always 

 well to sow enough to make allowance for such contingencies, and have a liberal supply of 

 good-sized, healthy plants at the time of setting. 



The rule with some farmers is, to sow in the proportion of a tablespoonful of seed to 

 sixteen feet square of surface. If the spoon is heaped a little, this will give about four 

 hundred seeds to the square inch, and if one mature, healthy plant is produced from every 

 three seeds, a bed sixteen feet square will supply thirty thousand plants, which is sufficient to 

 plant about seven acres at the ordinary distance. 



Some scatter the seed over the bed, and rake it in very lightly, but there is danger of 

 covering it too deep in the soil by this process unless great care is used. It is a good plan 

 to scatter it on the surface of the bed and roll it very lightly with a hand-roller, thus pressing 

 it into the soil; but the soil must not be made too compact by this process. 



During the first two or three weeks after sowing, the seed-bed should receive daily atten 

 tion. The soil must be kept constantly moist (not wet) on the surface, or the newly-germi 

 nated seed lying on or near the surface of the ground will be destroyed. Even an hour of 

 hot sun, .when the seed-bed is dry, will sometimes kill the young and tender sprouts or 

 plants, and, if left to careless or indifferent care, there would be danger of loss in this 

 respect, or from the other extreme of keeping the soil too wet. When glass is used, there is 

 still greater danger of sun-burning. It is a good plan to cover the bed with fine brush to 

 protect it from frost and the hot sun. Sometimes straw or chaff, free from grain, is used for 

 a covering, but there is always more or less danger of injuring the plants by removing it in 

 such cases. At the South, pine tags are much used for this purpose, which are not removed, 

 since they aid in maintaining a sufficient amount of moisture. The tags are generally used 

 in connection with a covering of light brush, the latter being removed when the leaves are 

 about an inch long. 



After the plants are up, a good top-dressing may be made of well-fermented, pulverized 

 horse manure, or a mixture of equal parts of stable manure and wood-ashes, plaster and 

 vegetable mold, to which four pounds of soot and sulphur are added to four bushels of the 

 mixture. This mixture will be a sufficient quantity for any ordinary bed, and, if applied in 

 judicious quantity every ten days, it will not only secure a rapid growth of plants, but 

 prevent the attacks of insects. When late sowing is practiced, the plants will require stimu 

 lating to be sufficiently grown at the time of transplanting. A narrow bed is more conven- 



