i6o 



AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



The soil most acceptable to tobacco is one having the 

 following characteristics : dryness, warmth, richness, depth, 

 and sandiness. 



Since tobacco is an exhaustive crop, the greatest atten- 

 tion must be given to keeping up the soil on which it is 

 grown. Occasional crop rotation, and manures are abso- 

 lutely necessary for keeping up the fertility in tobacco soils. 



FIG. 150. A PROMISING CROP 



Commercial fertilizers also are well-nigh a necessity, for, 

 as tobacco land is limited in area, the same land must be 

 often planted in tobacco. Hence even a fresh, rich soil that 

 did not at first require fertilizing soon becomes exhausted 

 and robbed of its plant food by too many crops being 

 grown upon it without rotation, and frequent application of 

 fertilizers and manures is therefore necessary. 



