48 TOBACCO. 



The beds should be made high enough, so that in fair 

 weather a little water can be applied every night. After 

 the fourth leaf appears, manure-water should be used. 

 Place an old barrel near the beds, and throw into it ^ 

 bushel of hen-manure, and fill with water ; after it is 

 well soaked, use h pailful of it, and fill up with clear 

 water with the chill taken oif. As the plants get larger, 

 the strength of the infusion can be increased, being 

 careful that it is not so strong as to turn the plants 

 yellow. As soon as the plants are large enough to be 

 readily taken hold of by the thumb and point of a knife, 

 they should be thinned to about 144 per square foot, and 

 •kept free from weeds. This plan is decidedly preferable 

 to raising under glass. It is less expensive, the plants 

 are more hardy to set out in the field, are got fully as 

 early, and a little carelessness on a hot day will not ruin 

 the whole. It- has been my method for the past 8 years, 

 and during that time I have never failed to have good 

 strong plants ready for the field between the 6th and 

 10th of June." 



Mitjen, whose essay on tobacco-growing in Cuba has 

 been already mentioned, recommends a system of shade 

 frames borne on small tramway trucks, as illustrated in 

 Fig. 5 — (a) seed beds, raised above the surrounding level ; 

 (6) light pointed covers of thatch on a wooden frame, and 

 provided with grooved wheels ; (c) rails on which the 

 frames run, facilitating their application or removal as 

 the vicissitudes of the weather may demand. 



Preparation of the Field. — Land intended to be planted 

 with tobacco should receive several ploughings not less 

 than 9 inches deep. As a rule, clay requires to be more 



