WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO. 345 



(Fig. 23) is in common use in the bluegrass section, by 

 the large planters. From one and a half to two acres 

 may be set out in an afternoon with three hands two to 

 drop plants and one to drive the team. A few days 

 after the plants are set out, the ground near them is 

 scraped with hoes. When the plant is established, a 

 bull-tongue cultivator is run six times in the space 

 between the rows. Every week after this the land is 

 plowed with double-shovel cultivators until the period 

 for topping approaches. Some planters plow deep; 

 others shallow, as their judgments may determine. But 

 little difference is observed in the product, whether the 

 plowing is shallow or deep. The work of tillage should 

 be directed to keeping the crop clean. During this 

 period the tobacco is usually hoed twice, a little dirt 

 being drawn to the plants at each hoeing. There are a 

 few small farmers who throw the dirt to the plants 

 with a one-horse turning plow, leaving a deep furrow 

 between the rows. This method of cultivating, how- 

 ever, is almost abandoned. 



Care of the Growing Crop. When the first buttons, 

 or seed buds, appear, the cultivation should cease, and 

 the work of topping begin. From 16 to 20 leaves are 

 left on each plant. White Burley is never primed 

 before topping, and when it is desired to grow a cutting 

 tobacco, the plants are topped much higher than when 

 a filler is to be produced. High topping and close 

 planting produce cutters; low topping and longer dis- 

 tances between the plants make a filler of good body 

 and excellent flavor, and wrappers of great strength of 

 fiber. It is best to top just as soon as there is a 

 sufficient number of leaves on the stalk. It is better, 

 however, to let a few plants bloom, if, by so doing, a 

 large proportion of the plants in the field may be topped 

 at the same time. All plants in the same field should 

 be topped in the same week, even though some of the 



