724 



TOBACCO, CULTURE OF. 



inferior or worthless tobacco, to the detriment 

 of the more perfect leaves in weight and size, 

 and it is better to remove them. Some plant- 

 ers, however, prefer to retain these lower 

 leaves. 



Topping. The top or seed-had will gener- 

 ally make its appearance from the first to the 

 tenth of August ; as soon as developed enough 

 to be got hold of conveniently, it must be 

 pinched off. The exact point for topping must 

 be determined to a great extent by the culti- 

 vator. Some fields of tobacco will mature a 

 plant of eighteen leaves, while others will not 

 more than twelve ; depending upon how for- 

 ward the crop is, and the strength of the 

 ground. The above numbers are the two ex- 

 tremes; from fourteen to sixteen leaves are 

 usually left to the stalk, when topped from the 

 first to the fourth of August ; when delayed as 

 late as the fifth to the tenth, from twelve to 

 fourteen. 



Suckers. After the top is taken off the suck- 

 ers will start, one from the base of each leaf, 

 those at the top making their appearance first, 

 then downward in succession. These must be 

 taken off as fast as they get large enough to be 

 got hold of, otherwise a great amount of 

 growth is lost, and consequently the maturity 

 of the plant retarded. As the plant approaches 

 maturity, great care should be exercised in 

 going through and handling, as the leaves are 

 daily growing brittle, and are liable to be 

 broken off and torn by careless hands. Turn 

 back to their natural position all leaves turned 

 up by .the wind, or the sun shining upon the 

 under side of the leaf will soon burn it, and 

 very seriously injure the color. 



Worming. This operation is simply to kill 

 the "tobacco-worms." These worms are 

 hatched from eggs deposited by what is called 

 the " tobacco-fly." It is a large, dusky-brown, 

 winged miller, nearly as large as a humming- 

 bird. It lays its eggs on fair evenings and 

 moonlight nights in July and August. It can 

 be seen almost any clear evening, among what 

 are called " Jiiuson-weed?," stramonium, suck- 

 ing the flowers. The eggs will hatch out in twen- 

 ty-four hours, and the worms commence eating 

 when less than half an inch long, and continue 

 to eat till they attain the length of four or five 

 inches. One worm, iu six days, will destroy 

 a plant so completely as to render it utterly 

 valueless. This pest is vastly more numerous 

 in some seasons than in others. The worming 

 of the crop, when they are numerous, is, by far, 

 the most disagreeable and tedious labor attend- 

 ing it. Much of the value of the crop depends 

 upon the care or inattention of performing this 

 part of the work. The crop may have been 

 planted in good time ploughed, hoed, primed, 

 suckered, topped, cut, and cured well ; yet it 

 may bave been so riddled by worms as to be 

 comparatively good for nothing in market ; 

 hence, they must be picked off and destroyed, 

 and that promptly. 



In two or three weeks after topping, the 



tobacco begins to get ripe enough to be cut. 

 When the leaves, which have hitherto been of 

 a uniform green, show yellowish, reddish, or 

 brownish spots when held up to the sun, feel 

 sticky, and when bent break off short and clean, 

 the tobacco is ripe or mature. 



Before this time the tobacco-grower must 

 have his drying-house or tobacco-barn in com- 

 plete order to receive the crop. In the South- 

 ern States, sheds or scaffolds erected in the 

 tobacco-fields or by the fences are all that is 

 necessary ; but in the Northern States, a dry- 

 ing-house is necessary. This house is built to 

 give room for the free hanging up of the tobac- 

 co, so that it is protected from the sun, wind, 

 and rain, and is allowed to dry by the free cir- 

 culation of the air. Any building, therefore, 

 will answer which has a good roof, boarded 

 sides, and enough windows and air-holes 

 (which can be closed at will) to keep up a mild 

 circulation of air inside, and also to keep out 

 strong and too quick drying winds. If the 

 tobacco is grown on a large scale, the house 

 should have large doorways to drive a wagon 

 in and out. There must be sticks all over the 

 house, either cross or lengthwise, and these 

 sticks must be ready and in their places. 



Before harvesting the crop, it is necessary to 

 determine whether the stalks shall be tpHt, 

 speared, pegged, or tied, or whether, as some of 

 the smaller German cultivators in Illinois ami 

 elsewhere practise, the leaves shall be plucked 

 from the standing stalk. Each plan has its ad- 

 vocates, and each is liable to some objections. 

 Where splitting is resolved upon, the follow- 

 ing is the process of harvesting as described 

 by a Western tobacco-grower: "Take a short 

 butcher-knife (sharp), and, standing over the 

 plant, split the stalk right down through the 

 middle, stopping before you get to the lower 

 leaves ; then take out your knife and cut off 

 the stalk below the lower leaves, and take the 

 stalk at the bottom, turn the plant bottom side 

 up, and stand it on its top. It is a short job. 

 Let it so stand until it wilts. If it is a hot day, 

 and the sun's rays are powerful, it will scorch 

 if it lies too long. Have some long poles, of 

 convenient size to handle, previously prepared 

 and on the ground, and forks, so that you may 

 bnild'a scaffold three and a half or four feet 

 high. One end or corner will commonly rest 

 on a stump or on the fence. Having arranged 

 your poles, lay smaller poles or rails across, and 

 thus form a frame, across which your tobacco- 

 sticks will reach. Have the tobacco-plants 

 thus wilted carried to the scaffold carefully, so 

 as not to bruise them, and piled convenient to 

 the 'hanger,' who will take the plants and 

 hang them on the tobacco-sticks, top down, by 

 means of the split made in the top of the stalk 

 while cutting. About ten plants are put on a 

 stick, at regular distances apart, and the sticks 

 are then placed on the scaffold, so that each 

 plant may not press closely against any other 

 plant, nor touch the ground. This process is 

 applicable to the cutting of the entire crop. 



