CHAPTER VIII. 



TRANSPLANTING. 



The field having been properly prepared to receive 

 the plants, according to the directions for the various 

 kinds of tobacco, given in later chapters, the work of 

 transplanting requires the utmost care. Carelessness 

 and neglect here are certain to tell seriously on the 

 results of the crop. To avoid tramping down the bed, 

 while pulling plants, it is a good idea to have a board as 

 long as the bed is wide, this board to be one foot wide 

 and one and one-half inches thick. Put short legs in 

 each end and one in the center, this making a low bench 

 to stand upon that will keep one off the bed, while 

 pulling and weeding. 



The most careful hands are set to work to draw the 

 plants from the beds. In removing plants, wet the bed 

 thoroughly, unless this has just been done by a good 

 rain ; take a common, two-tined dinner fork, or a stick 

 sharpened to a point at one end ; run this down by suit- 

 able sized plants and loosen them by gently prying 

 under them. The plants should be drawn one at a time, 

 so as to leave the smaller ones uninjured in the bed for 

 future planting, and so as not to injure the rootlets of 

 the plants taken. In drawing the plant, never catch by 

 the stem or on the heart or bud, but always by the 

 leaves above the bud. If the leaves are slightly bruised, 

 it will not hurt the plants, as the leaves come off any 

 way. Don't pull the plants one day and set them the 

 next, as they will grow crooked and never do well. As 

 the plants are drawn, they are laid down in straight 

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