EXPERIENCE OP PEACTICAL GROWERS. 



37 



place, and by the time the step is made he has it ready 

 CO plant, and so on ; care should be taken not to leave 

 dirt so that it will wash down and cover up the plant. 

 When a good season occurs, and the plants are ready, 

 the whole force of the farm should be applied to the 

 setting out. If the sun comes out hot, lay a small clod 

 or sod on the plant after setting out, which should be 

 removed after the sun declines. The crop should then 

 be set out as the plants grow and the rains suit, so as 

 to be all planted by the 20th of June ; and at each 

 planting the ground previously planted should be gone 

 over carefully to replant such as may be missing. 



Working the Crop should commence as soon as 

 the plant "takes root" and begins to grow ; first with 

 the hoe to clean out the hill, and afterwards with a 

 plow or cultivator, and it will be found desirable to 

 keep one or the other going, with hoes enough to keep 

 up with it, until the plants are a foot high. About this 

 time, or when about fourteen to sixteen leaves are fully 

 developed on the plant, it is to be "primed" and 

 "topped." The "priming" consists in removing from 

 the stalk the bottom leaves which have been bruised 

 in cultivation, or become dirty and rusty from lying 

 on the ground. These are taken off up to where the 

 leaves are sound and whole. Then count by twos up- 

 ward, and as your land may be stony or otherwise, 

 leave from eight to twelve leaves to the plant, and 

 pinch off the bud at the top. This is " topping" it. 

 Good land will not generally mature over ten leaves to 

 the plant unless it is very good. Now commences the 

 busy time with the crop. Having pinched off the bud 

 and stopped the upward growth of the plant, it will 

 try to evade a legitimate spreading out through the 

 leaf by " suckers," which will start out at the base of 

 each stem and grow as though they were anxious to 

 get to a safe size to defy you before you detect them. 

 These must be kept pulled off closely, and while you are 

 busy with them, you will come to a plant that the leaves 

 have been eaten full of holes — all fresh as though 

 something had enjoyed the business; turn up the leaves 

 one by one, and lying close to one, in some quiet corner 

 alongside the stem, you will find a dainty-looking green 

 worm about the size of your middle finger. It is the 

 gentleman who has done all your mischief, and who will 

 require your thorough inspection of every plant as often 

 as every four or five days to prevent his making in- 

 convenient inroads upon the result of your labors. 

 When little negroes are employed in this branch of 

 the business, they are sometimes told they will have 

 to bite off the heads of all the worms they leave. 

 Plowing should be continued while the size of the 

 plant renders it possible to do so with safety, and 

 when the plant is wilted in the middle of the day ; it 

 may be done oven after the leaves cover the space 

 between the row.«t. The later part of the season is 

 regarded most favorable for " making weight," and 

 the cold dewy nights of latter August and early Sep- 

 tember are accounted profitable to the tobacco-raiser. 



Cutting Tobacco should commence when the plants 

 in any favored part of the field begin to turn yellow 

 or mottled, and indicate maturity. Generally, a few 

 hundred hills begin to mature together, and become 

 fit for the knife at the same time. Take a short 

 butcher-knife, (sharp,) and standing over the plant, 

 split the stalk right down through the middle, stop- 

 ping before you get to the lower leaves ; then take 

 out your knife and cut off the stalk below the lower 

 leaves, and take the stalk at the bottom, turn the plant 

 bottom side up, and stand it on its top. It is a short 

 job. Let it so stand until it wilts. If it is a hot day, 

 and the sun's rays are powerful, it will scorch if it 

 lies too long. Have some long poles, of convenient 

 size to handle, previously prepared and on the ground, 

 and forks, so that you may build a scaffold three and 

 a half or four feet high. One end or corner will 

 commonly rest ou a stump or on the fence. Having 

 arranged your poles, lay smaller poles or rails across, 

 and thus form a frame, across which your tobacco- 

 sticks will reach. Have the tobacco-plants thus wilt- 

 ed carried to the scaffold carefully, so a3 not to 

 bruise them, and piled convenient to the '' hanger," 

 who will take the plants and hang them on the tobac- 

 co-sticks, top down, by means of the split made in the 

 top of the stalk while cutting. About ten plants arc 

 put on a stick, at regular distances apart, and the 

 sticks are then placed on the scaffold, so that each 

 plant may not press closely against any other plant, 

 nor touch the ground. This process is applicable to 

 the cutting of the entire crop. The plants on the 

 scaffold should be protected from the direct rays of the 

 sun on the sides, to prevent scorching, and if the 

 weather is clear and pleasant, may be allowed to re- 

 main out three or four days. It will cure rapidly, 

 and the sticks may be moved closer together each 

 day. It should, however, never receive a " wetting " 

 after it is cut, before " housing." 



The Housing of the Crop is done as fast as it is 

 cured up on the scaffold, or as the indications of rain 

 make it necessary, care being taken not to bruise or 

 tear it in hauling. The sticks of tobacco may be piled 

 upon the wagon or cart, and hauled to the barn and 

 hung up, commencing in the highest part of the build- 

 ing, and filling up as you go downwards. If the leaves 

 are pretty well cured, you may hang it so as to touch, 

 without crowding it ; if not, there should be a little 

 space between. If a cold, rainy spell comes on, you 

 will need to introduce some means of artificial drying. 

 A trench is sometimes dug, and a log or two of wood 

 placed in it, and a fire made, taking care to remove 

 the tobacco immediately over the fire, and avoiding 

 much blaze. This is dangerous, and a better plan is 

 to make a trench across the floor of the barn, of ma- 

 son-work, covered with sheet-iron, and leading from a 

 furnace outside the house on one side, to a chimney at 

 a safe distance on the other. The color and quality 

 of tobacco may be improved by hanging it closely and 



