408 TOBACCO LEAF. 



on tobacco land, unless we are positive that the fertilizer 

 used furnishes the potash in the form of high grade sul- 

 phate, as the muriate of potash, or lower grade potash, 

 salts usually have a deleterious effect upon the quality 

 of tobacco. A crop of turnips may be grown on tobacco 

 fields the same season to advantage, provided the tops 

 and small turnips are plowed under at the last moment 

 possible before freezing up. Spinach or beet greens can 

 be grown to advantage before tobacco plants are set in 

 the spring, as working the soil for them assists in put- 

 ting it in good mechanical condition, without drawing 

 upon its elements of fertility to any appreciable extent. 



Tobacco grown continuously on the same land, 

 richly manured year after year, is in danger of contain- 

 ing too much potash or magnesia after a while. In such 

 cases, and as a corrective of the soil, seeding to grass is 

 the method now preferred. A liberal quantity of grass 

 seed and clover seed is used, and the soil is so rich that 

 a tremendous stand of grass is obtained, which is usually 

 mowed twice the first year, but the second year, imme- 

 diately after the first mowing, the sod is turned under 

 with a shallow plow, the field being again more deeply 

 plowed just before the ground freezes. It is then kept 

 in tobacco for several years, according to the quality of 

 the crop. If the land is used for corn or potatoes, such 

 crops should be followed by oats or rye before the field 

 is used for tobacco. The oat or rye stubble is turned 

 under shallow immediately after the grain is cut, and is 

 again plowed deeply in the fall, the same as for grass. 

 This leaves the land in better condition for the tobacco 

 crop than if it were set immediately after corn or pota- 

 toes. Grass can also follow the latter crops before to- 

 bacco is planted. 



In central and southern New York, rotation of 

 crops for tobacco is still practiced to a large extent, but 

 the best growers are rapidly coming to adopt the Connect- 



