CULTIVATION. 31 



uninterruptedly under special circumstances, the cultivator 

 will find it advantageous to adopt some plan of rotation. 

 Cereals and pulses are very well adapted for this purpose, 

 the reason being that tobacco removes but little phosphoric 

 acid from the soil, and thus leaves it rich in the element 

 most necessary for the growth of cereals. It has also been 

 found that hemp thrives particularly well after tobacco. 



Judson Popenoe suggests that there " should be a good 

 coat of clover to plough under ; if the ground is naturally 

 rich, this alone will make a good crop, but hog and stable 

 manure, well rotted, is what the tobacco, as well as any 

 other crop, delights in, and the more manure the better 

 the tobacco. The plan that I am now experimenting on 

 is, as soon as I cut my tobacco in the fall I give the ground 

 a good harrowing, and then drill in wheat ; the ground 

 being well cultivated all the fall, is clear of weeds and 

 mellow and needs no ploughing. In the spring I sow \ 

 clover, after the wheat is off ; I keep the stock off until 

 about September, to give the clover a chance to harden 

 and spread. I then let the stock eat as low as they want 

 to, which drives the clover to root, and causes the crown to 

 spread ; I do not suffer stock to run on the clover during 

 winter or spring ; about the last of May or first of 

 June I plough the clover under, which is now in blossom, 

 and so I alternately keep two fields in tobacco and wheat, 

 at the same time feeding the ground a crop of clover 

 every two years ; in this way I expect my land to increase 

 in fertility all the time. The clover turned under makes 

 food for the cut- worms, and they trouble the tobacco-plants 

 but little." 



Selection of Sort. The cultivator must carefully com- 



