234 Effective Farming 



Export and manufacturing tobaccos are grown chiefly in sec- 

 tions in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, South 

 Carolina, North Carolina, and Louisiana. 



139. Methods of securing tobacco seedlings. The seeds 

 of tobacco are very small and are planted in hot-beds or cold- 

 frames. On reaching a certain size, the seedlings are trans- 

 planted to the field by hand or by a transplanting machine. 

 The ground where the seed-bed is to be situated is usually 

 sterilized to kill weed seeds and disease spores. This is most 

 commonly accomplished by means of steam. Steam from a 

 portable boiler is forced into an inverted metal box placed 

 over the soil of the seed-bed until the soil at a depth of 

 four inches is at a temperature of 175 F. After an hour the 

 metal box is removed and the process repeated on another 

 section of the soil. 



The rate of seeding in the bed varies in different sections of 

 the country. A teaspoonful of seed to one hundred square 

 feet of bed is about the average, although some growers sow 

 this quantity on two hundred square feet. In order to secure 

 an even distribution, the seed is mixed with two quarts of land- 

 plaster, bone-meal, or finely sifted wood-ashes. The seeds 

 are covered by pressing them into the soil with a plank or a 

 roller. After sowing the seed, the beds are covered with cheese- 

 cloth or glass. The soil is watered frequently, but it must not 

 be kept too wet. Ventilation in the bed is necessary and the 

 temperature must not get high enough to burn the plants. 



140. Cultural methods. The field where the plants are 

 to be set must be put into good physical condition. The 

 methods of fertilizing the soil vary in the different sections 

 and with the type of tobacco grown. The spacing of the 

 plants in the fields varies with the type of tobacco, ranging 

 from rows thirty-four to forty inches apart with plants four- 

 teen to twenty-eight inches apart in the rows. In some sec- 

 tions the plants are grown in hills varying from thirty-two to 

 thirty-six inches apart each way. 



