152 TOBACCO LEAP. 



ing against the brush. After this, eight feet more of 

 brush is set up, and a layer of wood, and so on until the 

 whole space is occupied. It should then be set on fire, 

 and when the brush burns out the whole bed will be 

 thickly covered with burning wood, which will be con- 

 sumed upon the ground and burn it sufficiently hard. 

 The brush may all be set up without interspersing the 

 wood and then afterward the whole should be covered 

 with a layer of wood, as shown in Fig. 12. Old rails 

 laid upon skids, so as to keep them from lying on the 

 ground, three or four deep, or the logs of an old 

 house, are admirable materials for burning plant beds. 

 They are easily set afire and burn the ground well. In 

 repairing fences, the old rails should always be kept 

 for this purpose. They save much valuable timber 

 and a great deal of hard labor. The burning destroys 

 all weed seed. 



4. Preparation and Sowing. The ground should 

 be burned until it has a reddish, or soft, brick-like 

 appearance, and will pulverize into an impalpable pow- 

 der. It should then be coultered, or spaded up, and 

 chopped over with hoes until it is well prepared. The 

 ashes should not be raked off, but thoroughly incorpo- 

 rated with the top soil. At the North, a heavy dressing 

 of well-rotted horse manure, hog manure or cottonseed 

 meal is applied in the fall, so that the fertility can be 

 well spread through the soil. Then in the spring about 

 150 pounds of some high-grade commercial fertilizer is 

 raked in to every 100 square yards. 



As soon as the ground can be worked in the spring 

 without packing, and danger from hard frosts is over, it 

 should be harrowed, or lightly spaded, and made very 

 fine and friable by both harrow and hand rake, and to a 

 depth of two or three inches. Care should be taken 

 not to reverse the soil. All roots and rocks should be 

 picked up, the land receiving a good raking after each 



