WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO. 343 



It furnishes more plug fillers also than the old variety. 

 The new variety has but little ruffle, thus affording 

 fewer hiding places for the worms. It is not so sensi- 

 tive to the heat of the sun, or to house burn. It will 

 also cure with fewer green leaves or spots. 



Preparation of the Land. In the bluegrass re- 

 gions of Kentucky, where the White Burley is now very 

 extensively grown, the preparation of the land for the 

 crop is begun in the winter, from January to March. 

 Two methods of breaking are practiced : One with a 

 plow having a "skimmer" attached just in front of the 

 subsoiler. The "skimmer" reverses a slice of sod 

 some ten inches wide and two inches thick, and 

 the subsoiler throws four or five inches of soil on 

 top of the reversed sod. The second way is to turn 

 the sod under with a two-horse plow to the depth of 

 eight inches. 



About the middle of April, a revolving disc harrow 

 is run over the land, cutting the sods to pieces. This 

 is followed by a slab drag, which is made of three or 

 four pieces of timber, fastened at intervals of a foot, or 

 more, with chains, so as to be flexible. This slab drag 

 smooths the ground and pulverizes all the clods. The 

 land is then marked off, from three feet eight inches to 

 three feet ten inches, one way only, with an implement 

 made for the purpose, which makes three marks at once. 

 These marks are about three inches wide, and about two 

 or three inches deep. They are made with a piece of 

 scantling two inches thick, the front being armed with 

 a sharpened piece of iron slightly flanged backward. 

 The plants are set on the edge of these marks, at a dis- 

 tance varying from 18 to 27 inches, the less distance 

 being used for growing cutting tobacco. Hills are 

 seldom made in the White Burley district, except 

 by a few Germans, who live in Mason county, Ken- 

 tucky. In that county, about one-fifth of the area 



