174 TOBACCO. 



it dispenses with watering and the plants settle better. A 

 boy takes a basket of seedlings and walks up the row, 

 dropping a plant here and there where the marks have 

 been made ; he is followed by a man who makes a hole 

 with a kurpie, into which he places a seedling, and then 

 presses the soil around the roots firmly with his fingers, 

 and then goes on with the rest. As transplanting can 

 hardly be done here without watering, a boy carrying a 

 can without a rose follows the man who is transplanting, 

 and waters each plant he comes across ; but, as I men- 

 tioned above, if the transplanting could be done in rainy 

 weather, the watering would be unnecessary. When 

 growing the young plants require some attention. After 

 the plants have been planted a week or so, weather per- 

 mitting, it is advisable to loosen and open the soil around 

 them with a kurpie, and also to eradicate weeds which 

 may appear. Later on a kodalie may be used to work the 

 earth between the rows. As soon as the plants have 

 made growth and begin to throw out flower or seed-heads, 

 which will take place in about eight weeks or so, they 

 should be topped, viz. the flower heads should be broken 

 off" before they flower in this way. The stem on which the 

 head was found should be seized about two to three feet 

 from the ground and snapped clean off by the hand or 

 fingers. This topping will cause the plant to throw out 

 heavy leaves. The higher up the stem is broken off, so 

 will the leaves of the plant become thinner and smaller. 

 We generally leave about ten to twelve leaves to each 

 plant. After topping, numerous suckers and offshoots will 

 spring up ; these should be promptly broken off as soon as 

 they appear, as they take a lot of nourishment from the 



