ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 555 



to the growth of heavy fat varieties of 

 tobacco, called shipping leaf, then the 

 Blue Prior or Morrow are excellent vari- 

 eties. For bright wrappers or fillers for 

 chewing tobacco, the Orinoco, Yellow 

 Prior or Little Vic are preferable. The 

 Little Vic is now preferred by some of 

 the best growers of bright wrappers in 

 Kentucky, being, as they assert, much 

 easier to cure a uniformly bright color, 

 while it also possesses all the desirable 

 chewing qualities of the other varieties. 



It is said that one bed, the size we have 

 described, will furnish plants for ten acres; 

 but if we intended planting ten acres, we 

 would have at least three such beds, and 

 would prefer four, so that if one failed in 

 part, the deficiency would be made up 

 by others. 



It is a well established fact that the 

 most successful tobacco growers are those 

 who get their crops set, and in order to 

 do so it is indispensable to have an abun- 

 dance of early plants. We would, there- 

 fore, recommend the sowing of seed in 

 January, February, and also in March. 

 It is a very common fault to sow too much 

 seed on a bed. When they stand too 

 thick on the ground they grow up very 

 slim, and do not grow off readily when 

 transplanted. In preparing new ground 

 for planting, it should be broken first by 

 a coulter plow, which cuts the roots well, 

 then turned over by a two-horse turning 

 plow, harrowed well each way ; the roots, 

 sticks, etc., piled and burned ; then laid 

 off in rows three feet four inches each 

 way with a shovel plow. A small hill, at 

 the crossing of each furrow, should be 

 made, say two or three hoefuls of loose 

 soil, to which give a sharp pat with the 

 hoe in order to better retain the moisture 

 after the plant is set. If bright wrappers 

 are the aim, and especially if your new 

 ground is rich, the rows may be only three 

 feet one way by three and a half the 

 other. 



In fact, some of the best farmers in 

 Kentucky, among them Mr. R. R. Wake- 

 field, of Ballard county, have recently 

 adopted drilling ; that is, they plant only 

 about two feet apart in the rows, which 

 is the usual width apart, and only plow one 

 way. In this way they obtain a more silky 

 leaf, a finer and better color ; and although 

 the leaf is smaller by topping high, say 

 fourteen to sixteen leaves to the plant, 



with the increased number of plants the 

 yield is equal and sometimes greater than 

 by planting the usual distance. Old land 

 should be fallowed deep in the fall if pos- 

 sible in order to turn under the weeds 

 and grasses, and give them time to decay 

 and enrich the soil, and it also gives the 

 cut- worm a good opportunity of freezing, 

 a thing to be desired, as it is often very 

 destructive to the plants when set in old 

 land, but never much trouble in new. 

 Old land in the spring should be pre- 

 pared in much the same way as new, ex- 

 cept the rows should be three and a half 

 feet apart each way, which gives 3,500 

 plants to the acre. 



Plants will live when transplanted in 

 fresh lands after a very light rain, but in 

 old land a good soaking rain is desirable 

 in order to insure success, besides it dam- 

 ages the plant-beds much less to draw 

 from them after a good rain. Care should 

 be taken when drawing plants from the 

 beds to avoid trampling on the young 

 plants, and only one plant should be 

 pulled at a time, for by pulling a handful 

 with half a dozen which are large enough 

 to plant, there will be sticking to their 

 roots perhaps fifty smaller ones, which 

 would be large enough in a week or tea 

 days, and which may be needed. Three 

 experienced hands can draw the plants 

 and set four or five acres in a day ; and 

 were I intending to plant a full crop, say 

 four to five acres to the hand, I would 

 prefer to have at least two-thirds of the 

 crop planted during the first season, /. e.> 

 at the first planting, and that as early in 

 May as possible, and the remainder within 

 ten or fifteen days thereafter. However, 

 there are but few farmers ready to plant 

 before the 15th of May, which is ample 

 time, and good crops are made when 

 planted as late as the middle of June, and 

 sometimes later. It may be objected 

 that too much of the crop should not be 

 planted at once for fear of having so much 

 to ripen at one time as to be unable to 

 house and take care of it properly ; but 

 the reverse is usually, if not invariably, the 

 case ; and much more tobacco is cut too 

 green than is damaged by standing in the 

 field too long ; besides, fully a third of the 

 most regular stand, all planted the same 

 day, will mature a week or ten days later 

 than the other two-thirds. Plants to set 

 in old ground should be of good size, say 



