FIELD, ORCHARD, AND GARDEN CROPS 



163 



Slight changes in color and texture indicate to the experienced 

 hand and eye when the plants are ripe. The leaves are then 

 pulled or the plants cut, and they are cured, often by carefully 

 regulated artificial heat. The curing, sorting, and handling of 

 the crop are operations that require skill, practice, and much labor. 



Fertilizers. Tobacco is a greedy feeder which requires large 

 quantities of food, especially of nitrogen and potash. For heavy 

 tobacco, these are supplied largely by stable manure and by gen- 

 eral enrichment of the soil. For bright tobacco, commercial 

 fertilizers are generally used to give the leaf the desired color 

 and texture. Crop rotation, manures, and 

 legumes are necessary to keep up the 

 fertility of the soil. 



Place in Rotation. As tobacco is such 

 a large consumer of plant food, it should 

 be preceded or followed by a nitrogen- 

 gathering crop, such as cowpeas or 

 clover. It is often followed by wheat or 

 other small grain that uses the plant food 

 which it leaves in the surface soil. 



Seed Selection. The seed plants should 

 be carefully selected and should be those 

 which come nearest the farmer's ideal of 

 what he would like every plant to be. 

 They should be healthy plants with well- 

 shaped leaves, and as free from suckers 

 as possible. Just before it blooms, the 

 flower head should be inclosed in a paper bag, in order to 

 prevent its receiving pollen from inferior plants. 



The seed should be graded, so as to separate the different 

 sizes and weights. Large and heavy seeds produce strong and 



TOBACCO PLANT 

 Bagged for seed 



