606 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



her varies with the height of the plant and the climatic conditions 

 during the season. From 14 to 16 leaves, however, are considered 

 desirable during the ordinary season. The suckers begin to appear 

 very soon after topping and should be removed every 8 or 10 days 

 or once a week when rains are frequent. 



Worms are usually very troublesome on this variety of tobacco 

 and must be picked off and destroyed as soon as they appear, or they 

 can be poisoned with a very light spray of Paris green mixture. The 

 "powder gun" has come into general use and is rapidly replacing the 

 spray pump for poisoning the hornworm and budworm. The grow- 

 ers who still employ the spray pump use 1 pound of Paris green and 

 an equal quantity of quicklime to 100 gallons of water, this being 

 sufficiently strong to kill the hornworms without injuring the leaves. 

 If a stronger solution is used there is danger of burning the leaves, so 

 that patches of green will appear after curing. A mixture of 1 pound 

 of Paris green to 30 pounds of lime or land plaster is recommended 

 for use in the powder gun. 



The manner of harvesting the southern Cuban tobacco is essen- 

 tially the same as that practiced with the Connecticut Havana Seed 

 tobacco. The number of plants to the lath, however, may be in- 

 creased to 8 or 10, where the growth is comparatively small. 



Some growers prefer to prime the Cuban tobacco. This process 

 is more expensive, but a thinner leaf is obtained, which makes it pos- 

 sible to use a certain percentage of leaves for wrapper purposes. There 

 are no advantages in this system over the present method of cutting 

 the plants so far as the production of a filler leaf is concerned. 



Where the soil has been abundantly fertilized and the season is 

 favorable, a profitable second crop of filler can be grown, which is 

 commonly called a "sucker crop." A week after cutting, all the suck- 

 ers should be broken off the old stump with the exception of one, 

 which is to be allowed to remain and mature. It should be handled 

 in exactly the same way as the original crop. The sucker crop ordi- 

 narily produces about one-half the yield of the main crop. Insects 

 are always very much worse late in the season and become very trou- 

 blesome in the sucker crop. 



Zimmer Spanish and Little Dutch Tobaccos. The preparation 

 and care of the seed bed for these should be the same as given for 

 Connecticut Havana tobacco. The preparation of the soil and the 

 methods of transplanting and cultivating are the same as those given 

 for Connecticut Havana. The plants should be set in rows 3 feet 

 apart and the seedlings set from 15 to 20 inches apart in the rows. 

 The plants should be topped so as leave about 16 leaves for each 

 plant. The average yield of the Zimmer Spanish variety is about 

 600 pounds to the acre, while the yield of the Little Dutch variety is 

 considerably less. The methods of harvesting, curing, and ferment- 

 ing are essentially the same as those for the Connecticut Havana 

 variety. 



Maryland Smoking Tobacco. The seed bed should be located 

 on a dark, friable, loamy soil with a southern exposure. The plants 

 may be easily watered if the seed bed be located near a brook. The 



