27 



should be burnt. A lig'lit burning with straw or other 

 lig'ht material will not be sufficient. A p^ood coat of 

 brush laid upon the ground intended to be used for a 

 plant bed, and arranged so closely as to make it burn 

 readily, serves best for the purpose. Care must be taken 

 also, before laying on the brush, to take all trash from 

 the ground, so thau the heat may readily destroy the 

 seeds of any weeds which may have been deposited 

 there. New ground is always to be preferred for plant 

 beds, and brush as the material for burning the ground. 

 But if the tobacco planter have no new ground, then he 

 must substitute grass land in its stead, and this should 

 be w^cU burned by having a range of logs (those which 

 are seasoned are best) laid along one edge of the ground, 

 intended for plant bed, and heaped up sufficiently to 

 make them burn readily These must be set on fire, and 

 after burning the ground which they cover sufficiently, 

 they must be moved by means of hooks, to the adjacent 

 ground not yet burnt ; and so on, in succession, until 

 the entire space, intended for a plant bed is burnt. 

 If one set of logs is not sufficient to burn a space as 

 large as will be necessary, others must be added so as 

 to enlarge the space, or they may be burnt at diffisrent 

 places as may be most convenient. 



'' Where sod ground is intended to be used, it would 

 be advantageous to have the sod slightly skinned off 

 with sharp hoes, before the space is burnt over, 



" After the ground is burnt it must stand sufficiently 

 long to cool, and then the ashes should be carefully 

 removed. The ground should now be dug up with hoes, 

 to the depth of two or three inches, and so as to pulver- 

 ize it as much as possible, and should be well raked with 

 an iron tooth rake, so as to break up the soil into the 

 most minute parts. It will now be ready for sowing 

 the seed. It is important that this operation should be 

 as regular as possible, and care should be taken to put 

 the proper quantity of seed upon the ground. If sowed 

 too thick, the plants will be so much crowded as to 

 injure their growth. If sowed too thin, a deficiency of 

 plants may be the consequence. A common silver table 



