VIRGINIA METHOD. 435 



Plants with large broad leaves are considered the best, 

 while those that grow tall and " spindling " or " long shank" 

 plants, as they are called at the South, are rejected and 

 should not be set out when others that are more " stocky " 

 can be obtained. Avoid, however, setting too large plants, 

 as they are not as apt to live as smaller ones. Transplanting 

 should be done as fast as possible, that the tobacco field may 

 present an even appearance and be ready to harvest at 

 one time. If the plants are to grow and ripen evenly, the 

 transplanting should be finished in a week or two from the 

 time of the first setting. This can generally be done unless 

 plants are very scarce, when circumstances, beyond the 

 growers' control, often make the field give apparent evidence 

 of want of care, although the real trouble is a want of plants. 



" It may be necessary to water the plants once or twice 

 after transplanting ; this in a measure will depend upon the 

 season." 



Tatham in his Essay on the Culture and Commerce of 

 Tobacco, (London 1800,) gives an account of the manner of 

 transplanting in Virginia at that period. Under the head of 



"THE SEASON FOR PLANTING," 



he says : 



" The term, ' season for planting,' signifies a shower of 

 rain, of sufficient quantity to wet the earth to a degree of 

 moisture which may render it safe to draw the young plants 

 from the plant bed, and transplant them into the hills 

 which are prepared for them in the field, as described under 

 the last head; and these seasons generally commence in 

 April, and terminate with what is termed the long season in 

 May ; which (to make use of an Irishism), very frequently 

 happens in June ; and is the opportunity which the planter 

 finds himself necessitated to seize with eagerness for the 

 pitching of his crop : a term which comprehends the ultimate 

 opportunity which the spring will afford him, for planting a 

 quantity equal to the capacity of the collective power of his 

 laborers when applied in cultivation. By the time which 

 these seasons approach, nature has so ordered vegetation, 

 that the weather has generally enabled the plants, (if duly 



