OTHER FARM CROPS 599 



bed or the air space is likely to be hot while the soil may remain 

 cold and in poor condition for the growth of the young plants. 



The soil for the seed beds should be fertilized with a highly 

 nitrogenous fertilizer, the one most commonly used being cotton- 

 seed meal in combination with a complete fertilizer containing phos- 

 phoric acid and soluble potash. This fertilizer should be thoroughly 

 worked into the soil. 



In preparing the soil for the sowing of the seed, it should be 

 most carefully handled, so that at the time of sowing it is in a fine, 

 loose, and friable condition, with an even surface. As the tobacco 

 seed is very small, it is necessary to have the soil in the finest possible 

 tilth in order to present a uniform condition for the seed. During 

 the growth of the young plants it is well to sprinkle over the beds a 

 light dressing of nitrate of soda, dissolved in water, after which it 

 should be washed into the soil with a light and fine spray of water. 

 It is sometimes found desirable to add a light application of phos- 

 phorus, in the form of ground bone and carbonate of potash, if the 

 soil is found to be deficient in these elements of plant food. It is the 

 usual practice in the North to sprout half of the quantity of seed 

 used for sowing in moist but not too wet apple-tree punk or rotted 

 cocoanut fiber about one week before the time for sowing the bed. 

 For this purpose the seed is thoroughly mixed with the punk and 

 placed in a glass jar, which should be kept in a warm room. The 

 seed will sprout quickly in this medium, and it is probable that 

 earlier plants can be secured from such sprouted seed than from sow- 

 ing the dry seed alone. The sprouted seed should be sown about the 

 time the sprouts are one-eighth to one-fourth inch in length. Many 

 growers sow the sprouted seed as soon as the seed coats burst and the 

 sprouts appear. If the sprouts become too large they will be injured 

 during the process of sowing. An equal quantity of dry seed should 

 be mixed with the sprouted seed when the beds are ready for sowing. 



It has been found by comparative tests made by the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry that in most cases the dry seed produces plants about 

 as early as the sprouted seed, and the plants from the dry seed are 

 more uniform in size and apparently more hardy than those raised 

 from the sprouted and dry seed combined. In order to get an even 

 distribution of seed over the seed bed in sowing, it is a good plan to 

 mix the dry seed and the sprouted seed with several times its bulk 

 of land plaster or gypsum, or, if this is not obtainable, corn meal or 

 ashes, so the seed can be sown more evenly over the bed. One to 

 two tablespoonfuls of seed should be used for every 100 square yards 

 of seed-bed surface. 



After sowing the seed it is desirable to pack the surface of the 

 bed carefully with a roller or heavy plank, in order to press the soil 

 closely about the seed. Another good plan is to cover the seed by 

 lightly raking the surface with an ordinary garden rake, and this 

 method is preferred by many experienced growers. It has been 

 found in the experiments of the Bureau of Plant Industry that the 

 light seed is undesirable and in every case should be separated from 

 the heavy seed and discarded. In order to make a thorough and 



