HOW TO KAISE TOBACCO. 



five acres, but it is always safe to have two or three 

 such beds, to guard against a failure, and to supply 

 your neighbors. The usual time to sow is from the 

 middle of March to the tenth of April, or as soon as 

 the ground admits of working in the spring. I have 

 known seed sown in the fiill make good plants, but do 

 not recommend it. 



Soil. — ^A rich, sandy, second bottom, I believe to be 

 the best for raising tobacco, although our chocolate- 

 colored uplands, when very rich and highly manured, 

 will grow an excellent quality of tobacco, but will not 

 yield as much to the acre. Black river-bottoms will 

 yield more to the acre than any other kind of land, 

 but the tobacco is not of so fine a quality ; it grows 

 larger, has coarser stems, and heavier body, and con- 

 sequently, in my opinion, is not so good for wrappers 

 or fine cut as the second bottom or upland tobacco. 



Manuring and Preparing for Planting. — Tobacco 

 is a gross feeder and grows rapidly when once started, 

 therefore needs plenty of food to make it grow well. 

 There should be a good coat of clover to plow under ; 

 if the ground is naturally rich, this alone will make a 

 good crop, but hog and stable-manure, well rotted, is 

 what the tobacco, as well as any other crop, delights 

 in, and the more manure the better the tobacco. The 

 plan that I am now experimenting on is, as soon as I 

 cut my tobacco in the fall I give the ground a good 

 harrowing, and then drill in wheat ; the ground being 

 well cultivated all the fall, is clear of weeds and mel- 

 low and needs no plowing. In the spring I sow clo- 

 ver, after the wheat is off ; I keep the stock off until 

 about September, to give the clover a chance to harden 

 and spread. I then let the stock eat as low as they 

 want to, which drives the clover to root and causes 

 the crown to spread ; I do not suffer stock to run on 

 the clover during winter or spring ; about the last of 

 May or first of June I plow the clover under, which is 

 now in blossom, and so I alternately keep two fields 

 in tobacco and wheat, at the same time feeding the 

 ground a crop of clover every two years ; in this way 

 I expect my land to increase in fertility all the time. 

 The clover turned under makes food for the cut-worms, 

 and they trouble the tobacco-plants but little. We 

 now harrow thoroughly, following in the same way 

 that we plow, to make the sod lie flat and not drag 

 np ; next the roller is put on, and after the ground is 

 well rolled it should be again harrowed, and, if clod- 

 dy, rolled again. Make the ground in the best condi- 

 tion passible, so that the roots of the tobacco will 

 have no difficulty in penetrating the soil and searching 

 for food. My plan is to fai?rt?w east and west three 

 feet apart, north and south three and a half feet. I 

 plow the tobacco both ways, but do all the hoeing, 

 euckering, etc., north and south. Some mark out the 

 groimd three feet each way, but I think it is too close. 

 If the tobacco is large, three feet does not give room 

 to work among it conveniently. I mark out the 

 ground with a small one-horse plow, going east and 



west first, finishing the way that I make my hills. The 

 usual way to make the hills is with the hoe, making 

 the hill wliere the furrows cross each other, drawing 

 the dirt into a hill about as large as for covering com 

 or potatoes. With the flat part or back of the hoe 

 press or flatten the hill down to the level of the sur- 

 face of the ground, taking care to have it clear of 

 clods or rubbish. I generally make my hills with 

 what we call a jumping-shovel — the frame of a sin- 

 gle shovel-plow, made light, with a shovel about eight 

 inches square, put on in the place of the common 

 shovel. Hitch a steady horse to this, start him in the 

 furrows, dip the shovel in the middle of the furrows, 

 and raise it, dejiositing the dirt at the cross of the fur- 

 rows. Have a hand following to level and pat down 

 the hills, and take out clods. In this way I made, 

 with the assistance of a boy fifteen years old, about 

 fifteen thousand hills in a day, while with the hoe 

 alone three or four thousand is a good day's work. 



Setting out Plants. — ^From the first to the fifteenth 

 of June is the proper time, although, if it is seasonable, 

 up to the fourth of July will do, but the sooner after 

 the first of June the better. By this time, with pro- 

 per care and attention, the plants are large enough. 

 The ground should be well saturated with rain, and a 

 cloudy day is much the best. Immediately after a 

 rain, or between showers, call out all the force, for 

 the work is pressing; the success of the crop He- 

 pends on getting it out at the right time ; all hands go 

 to the plant-beds, pull the largest plants one at a 

 time ; don't let two stick together, or the boys will 

 drop them together and a plant will be lost. After 

 the baskets are full, let one hand continue to pull 

 plants. Put the little boys and girls to dropping one 

 plant on the side of each hill ; let those who stick take 

 an extra plant in the hand, drawing the leaves together 

 in the left hand, and with the fore-finger of the right 

 hand make a hole in the center of the hill deep 

 enough to receive the full length of the roots without 

 the top root bending up ; insert the plant up to the 

 collar with the left hand ; stick the fore-finger of the 

 right hand one or two inches from the plant, and press 

 the dirt well up against the roots, taking care that the 

 dirt is pressed so as to fill- up the hole. Pick up the 

 plant on the side of the hill, and as you step to the 

 next hill arrange it for sticking ; in this way you al- 

 ways stick the plant that you pick from one hill in 

 the next, thereby greatly facilitating the work. Some- 

 times the ground is not sufficiently wet, and the sun 

 coming on the plant is apt to injure it ; at such times 

 take a small clod and lay it on the heart of the plant 

 to keep the sun off, removing the clod in the evening. 

 As soon as the plants have started, the first time the 

 ground is wet enough re-plant where they have died out. 

 Cultivation. — As soon as the plants have taken 

 root and commenced to grow, begin to use a double 

 shovel-plow, having the shovel next the tobacco, about 

 three inches wide and six or eight inches long ; do not 



