220 THE PEOPLE'* FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



safe place, the seed is good for many years, growing as well at 

 seven or eight years old as the first year. This will enable the 

 planter to save seed for a series of years when he has an extra 

 good crop. The greatest care should be exercised in selecting 

 plants from which to grow seed. 



The seed-bed should be prepared early, varying with season 

 and locality, from the middle of February to the middle of 

 March. It should be fresh land, and sheltered on the north and 

 west, and a spot is usually cleared along the edge of a wood. It 

 must be naturally drained, and a piece of gravelly land sloping 

 to the south is favorable. If new land can not be had a piece of 

 sod should be plowed in the fall, and heavily manured with 

 manure which has been so prepared that it is positively certain 

 there are no seeds in it that will germinate. 



When you find the land dry enough to work, as spring ap- 

 proaches cover the bed with brush and set them on fire, and 

 have brush enough to add so as to keep a hot fire for an hour or 

 more. The object of this is to kill the weeds, as the young to- 

 bacco plants will not flourish with weeds, and it is very difficult 

 to pull them out without damage to the plants. After the brush 

 has burned, while the land is still warm, dig the bed up, turn- 

 ing the ashes under, and pulverize and rake till it is perfectly 

 mellow and level. Then sow your seed, at the rate of a tea- 

 spoonful to the square rod. As it is so fine it will be necessary 

 to mix it with something to enable you to sow it evenly, and 

 ashes is recommended for the purpose. All the covering needed 

 will be to run a light roller over it or press it with a board. 

 Planters differ as to the amount of land required to produce 

 plants for an acre, some sowing less than a square rod, and others 

 as much as two. The bed should be protected with brush after 

 being sown. If the weather should be very dry it will be neces- 

 sary to water the bed, and it will be a great advantage to use a 

 small amount of hen manure or soot in the water. 



When the plants come up, which will be in from four to six 

 weeks dust frequently with plaster and ashes, as there is an in- 

 sect called the tobacco fly which resembles the garden flea 

 that often destroys them. If the plants are so thick as to be 



