EXPERIENCE OP PEACTICAL GEOWEES. 



29 



The boards for closing up the outside should be a 

 foot wide, and at intervals of about five feet a board 

 should be hung with light strap-hinges, to serve as a 

 ventilator to admit light and dry air, and to exclude 

 wet and dampness, which materially damages the to- 

 bacco in color, etc. These ventilators or doors must 

 be closed on frosty nights, but in fair, dry weather 

 should be kept open. 



View of a bent of the tobacco-barn, 24 feet wide and 17 feet high, 

 at the sides. 



The tobacco-poles, the ends of which rest upon the 

 bents, should be about thirteen feet long, two inches 

 thick, by six inches wide, of some light timber — elm 

 or basswood is used here — and when hung with to- 

 bacco should be from eight to ten inches apart. 



A large door should be placed at either end for in- 

 gress and egress. 



The poles, of which there should be four tiers, are 



laid from bent to bent, resting the ends of the cross- 

 beams in the bent, tiers four feet four inches apart. 

 Such is the method of planting, raising, securing, and 

 fitting for market tlie tobacco-crop, as practiced by 

 our most successful tobacco-growers. We have per- 

 sonally assisted in the various departments, and know 

 from experience and personal observation that the 

 Onondaga county tobacco-grower is as successful a to- 

 bacco-grower as any in Maryland or old Virginia. Two 

 years ago we were down South, and witnessed the 

 modes of planting and raising tobacco as practiced in 

 Maryland ; we found that the old practice of " split- 

 ting," " spearing," and " pegging" were yet in vogue, 

 resulting in great delay in hanging the tobacco, other- 

 wise the culture and cure are similar to that practiced 

 here. 



The raising of tobacco in many parts of Onondaga 

 county is a grand success. Many of our tobacco- 

 growers have raised the past year, notwithstanding 

 the severe drought, over one ton to the acre, and the 

 average for the past season is full one ton to the acre. 

 The cost of raising the same is not more than forty 

 dollars per acre. The crop has been bought up by 

 speculators and tobacconists, at prices ranging from 

 fourteeen to seventeen cents per pound, making a net 

 profit to the grower of two hundred and sixty dollars 

 to the acre. 



The tobacco grown here is known as the Connecti- 

 cut seed-leaf, and is relied upon for the main crop. 

 Other varieties are grown. The Spanish Long Leaf and 

 the Yard leaf are good varieties, and the large grow- 

 er will not fail to plant some of his ground to the nu- 

 merous varieties. 



No. VIII-BY D. M. HUDSON, HIGHLAKD COUNTY, IND. 



Seeds and Seed-Bed. — Secure good seed, that will 

 be sure to grow. The variety is' not so essential. 

 The Connecticut seed-leaf, or the Golden leaf for 

 segars, and the Cuba or Mason county for chewing, 

 are good varieties. 



The seed should be sown the latter part of March, 

 in a bed first prepared by thorough burning, to de- 

 stroy all seeds of weeds which may be in the ground. 

 It also enriches the soil with the very element most 

 essential to the growth of the plant, to wit, potash ; 

 and thereby makes the plants earlier and more thrifty. 



The bed should be sheltered from beating rains, 

 and also ■partially from the sun ; as this gives the 

 plants a longer stem, and enables them to stand trans- 

 planting better by having the roots placed further in 

 the ground. The site for the bed should be selected 

 in as warm a situation as possible. After burning, 

 mix the ashes and the soit thoroughly with a rake or 

 hoe to the depth of three or four inches ; after which 

 the seed may be sown — taking great care not to sow 



too thickly. A large-sized thimbleful ia enough to 

 sow a bed four feet square, which will produce plants 

 enough to plant an acre. Stock should not be allowed 

 to tramp the beds ; and if weeds come in them, they 

 should be pulled out. 



The Preparation of the Ground. — Select dry 

 upland, the richer the better. First give it a good 

 coat of stable-manure, with as much ashes as conve- 

 nient, which should be plowed under in March ; the 

 deeper the better. Subsoiling will not hurt it. Sur- 

 face-plow the ground again the last of May, throwing 

 into ridges three and a half feet apart for transplanting. 



Take up the plants with a small lump of dirt to 

 each, and plant three feet apart on the ridges while the 

 ground is moist or wet. It may be done when the ground 

 is dry, if the plants be watered immediately afterward. 



The tobacco should be -well cultivated while smiall. 

 This may be done with the plow and the hoe, until the 

 leaves are too large for plowing ; after which it must 

 be done exclusively with ftie hoe. 



