174 



TOBACCO LEAF. 



two-wheeled machine drawn by two horses, but such a 

 machine cannot be used where there are small stones 

 or undecomposed vegetable matter on the ground. The 

 land must be clean. It requires one man to drive and 

 two boys to drop the plants. It plants one row at a 

 time and can set from 3 to 6 acres per day, the amount 

 set depending on the skill of the droppers and the space 

 between the plants. In a few hours, operators of average 

 intelligence will learn how to do good work, and in a 

 few days very fast work. Plants are set with mathe- 

 matical regularity at any desired distance, 15, 18, 23 or 

 30 inches apart. The machine carries a supply of water, 



FIG. 30. END VIEW OF FKAMED BARN. 



and the roots of each plant are thoroughly wet below 

 the surface of the ground, while being set. This in- 

 sures a far better start than can be obtained by hand 

 setting, and, moreover, the grower is independent of the 

 weather, and can set his plants whenever the land is pre- 

 pared, regardless of rains. Machine-set tobacco plants 

 start quicker, and grow and mature more evenly and 

 quickly than hand-set plants. The machine can also 

 be used for setting cabbage, strawberry, tomato and 

 many other plants. Some of these machines make it 

 unnecessary either to lay off the land in rows or to make 



