22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



keep the soil water from evaporating through the soil, 

 instead of through the crop. If the crop, at any time after 

 it is half grown, is pinched for two weeks in its water 

 supply, it is sure to be of inferior quality. Considering 

 this small supply of water which our best tobacco lands 

 have and the great inequality in our summer rains, as well 

 as the great damage done by a short season of drought, a 

 chance to irrigate tobacco fields is a great help. 



One of our best growers in Connecticut has a dam, making 

 a pond, from which he can irrigate the crop when neces- 

 sary, and he does this about two years out of every three. 

 The water is run through between the rows, ?*ajjidly, till it 

 reaches the further end of the field, and is then shut off and 

 turned into other rows. He has saved some crops from 

 total failure, and oftener has protected them from serious 

 damage. 



This last season our experiment tobacco, on a little drier 

 land, to be sure, was damaged by a dry spell, while his 

 tobacco, with a single irrigation, kept right on and made a 

 perfect crop. 



Much is done, however, to protect tobacco in a dry time, 

 by judicious and constant cultivation; much harm is done, 

 too, by cultivation of another kind. I find men who say 

 that you supply the plants with moisture by throwing up 

 the damp earth against the stalks and the mass of roots near 

 them, in a dry time. This is nonsense. If you want to dry 

 out your land near the surface, cultivate it deeply, the 

 deeper the better. If you want to keep the moisture in it 

 in a dry time, cultivate it just as shallow as you can. Break 

 the surface crust ; that is all. Don't bring any damp earth 

 to the surface if you can help it. All the earth which you 

 stir is the drier for it, but what you do not stir will not lose 

 its water as quickly for the stirring. After rains, deeper 

 cultivation will do no harm, it may help to aerate the soil ; 

 but in a drought go over the surface as lightly as you can. 

 If you could cover the ground with empty fertilizer bags, 

 they would hold the moisture as well as could be. Instead 

 of that, make a layer of light, fluffy earth with your culti- 

 vator, but not much thicker than a fertilizer bag. 



So much for soil texture and soil moisture. 



