No. 4.] TOBACCO GROWING. 27 



lime, chiefly in form of carbonate, have been abundantly 

 used. 



So much regarding the amount of plant food to be used 

 per acre. 



Now, what have we learned about the special forms of 

 plant food best suited to the crop ? 



One thing at the outset. We have talked so much about 

 the efl'ect of forms of plant food on quality of leaf that we 

 have sometimes forgotten this, that plant food is only one 

 factor in the yield and quality of the crop. Nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and potash are not all there is to tobacco 

 growing. 



The season and the rain supply greatly affect the quality 

 of the leaf, and, with the best forms and quantities of plant 

 food, tobacco may yet have poor burn and generally unde- 

 sirable texture, color and size. 



The crop is a product of all the other factors of growth, 

 as well as of the food of the plant. Many of these factors 

 are quite beyond control. 



First, about green manuring. It is common to let tobacco 

 land lie, as I have said, from eight to nine months every 

 year with nothing on it. I believe this is wasteful, and 

 within a few years some of our best growers are sowing rye 

 in the fall, to turn under in the spring. 



The aim is, first, to hold the soil in place, — for some of 

 our best tobacco land actually drifts in high winds ; and, 

 secondly and chiefly, to gather the soluble plant food of 

 the soil, particularly nitrogen, and hold it so that it will 

 not leach out in the heavy rains of the fall, winter and 

 spring. 



Rye, like other grasses, makes a great root growth before 

 it does much above ground, and it is at work all winter, 

 wherever the ground is not frozen, i. e., wherever plant 

 food is adrift. The practice is certainly a very good one, 

 but mind these two things : sow it rather late, so that it 

 will not make too large a growth, and plough it under in 

 the spring, before it heads out. If you do not, it pumps 

 too much water out of the soil and gets so woody that it 

 will not rot down quickly, but leaves the soil in which it 

 lies light and fluffy, with little moisture. 



