38 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ March, 



go far, but they must be supplemented by 

 actual experiment; growing tine tobacco is 

 not to be learned in a single season, but the 

 knowledge gained one season must be increas- 

 ed during subsequent ones; in fact the tobacco 

 planter is never done learning, but every 

 succeeding year contributes its quota to his 

 already acquired store of information. 

 How to Raise Tobacco. 

 The culture of tobacco has assumed such 

 proportions as to make it one of, if not the 

 most important crop, in a monetary point 

 of view, in Lancaster county. It has gro\yn 

 from time to time, in acreage, as well as in 

 quality, until it has attained a reputation in 

 the markets of the country excelled only by 

 that grown in the West Indies and a few 

 other favored localities. 



Tnis is the result of that care in its man- 

 agement through its various stages, which 

 has of late years been practiced and studied 

 by the more careful growers. 



With the view of guiding others, not 

 familiar with the process, I will endeavor to 

 give a brief outline of the manner of treat- 

 ing the plant through the various stages, from 

 the seed to its preparation for market. 

 The Plant Bed. 

 In the first place, the successful grower 

 must raise his own plants, and this is by no 

 means the least difficult part of the work. As 

 the seed is small, and the young plant tender, 

 it requires attention corresponding with these 

 condit.ions. The i)rime requisite is a piece of 

 ground, of rich soil, and protected from cold 

 winds. This should be prepared in the fall, 

 by spading and manuring, and about April 1, 

 sow seed at the rate of a tablespoonful to one 

 hundred square yards. Having previously 

 pulverised the soil thoroughly, then rake it 

 gently, and pat the surface with back of a 

 spado to bring the seeds in close contact with 

 the ground. Mixing the se d with, say a 

 pack of wood ashes, will facilitate the sowing 

 of the mixture with regularity. 



How to Grow Strong Plants. 

 A covering of the bed with hog bristles has 

 a wonderful influence in promoting the de- 

 velopment of the plant. Tlie bristles may be 

 removed, after the plants have attained a 

 growth of three or four leaves, and preserved 

 for future use, a rake being the best means of 

 removal. Frequent sprinkling is indispensa- 

 ble, as moisture is an active promoter of all 

 vegetable growth. A solution of some active 

 fertilizer applied in liquid form is of great 

 benefit. By careful attention to your plant 

 bed, thorough weeding included, they will be 

 ready for transplanting during the latter half 

 of iiay in this latitude. From this to say 

 June 5, plant whenever weather and ground 

 arc favorable; tlie same conditions that favor 

 the growth of a cabbage plant will do the 

 same for tobacco, and all farmers should 

 know how to start cabbage 



I have dealt with this part somewhat tedi- 

 ously, but none too much so for the interests 

 of the grower, as his experience will testify to 

 abundantly. Good plants ready in time are 

 half the prospect of a cro]) attained, and not 

 having your own, and in time, is like expect- 

 ing to make "liricks without straw." 

 Preparation of Ground. 

 The ground cannot be too rich. Barn-yard 

 manure is, beyond disptile, the one i)refera- 

 ble, if not the only reliable, fertilizer. Gyp- 

 sum, wood ashes, &c. are good auxiliaries. 

 Sandy loam is preferable to a stiller soil, and 

 thorough cultivation is absolutely necessary. 

 Without this a paying crop cannot be expect- 

 ed. Fall plowing, or early spring, is desira- 

 able. 



Setting out the Plants. 

 When ground is thus prepared, say about 

 May 20, it should be ridged in rows, three 

 and a-half or four feet apart, if the ground is 

 very rich. After ridging, cut o>it indenta- 

 tions to receive the, ])lant, say three and a 

 half inches deep on the row, and from twenty- 

 two to thirty inclies apart, as experience may 

 dictate, a medium between the two being, 



perhaps, as good as any, depending, of course, 

 on soil and season. The plants should be set 

 below the general level of the row, as by 

 future hoeing the higher portions will be cut 

 down to a level. All other cultivation should 

 be the same as that for corn or other hoed 

 crops— thorough and frequent. No weeds 

 dare be allowed at any time. In an average 

 season the plant will mature sufficiently by 

 the early part of August to dispense with 

 further cultivation of the ground, as the 

 plants shading it will check the growth of 

 weeds. 



AWhen to Top. 



Whenever the plant develops from fourteen 

 to sixteen leaves, break off the top, don't cut 

 it off. This arrests the further production of 

 leaves, but will promote the growth of 

 suckers, which will have to be removed, after 

 attaining a length of three or four inches, as 

 often as they appear. 



Enemies to be Guarded Against. 



It may be well to refer here to two formid- 

 able enemies of the plant, viz : the black cut- 

 worm and the green tobacco worm. The 

 former will attack the roots of the plant as 

 soon as it is put into the ground. The depre- 

 dations of this worm sometimes necessitate 

 frequent re-planting. They must be hunted 

 and destroyed until they disappear, which 

 they will do as the season advances. The last 

 narned generally appears about July 1, and 

 feeds on the leaf until the crop is secured in 

 the sheds. In fact, they frequently, if not 

 picked off clean, cling to the leaves after the 

 stalk is hung up. About these there is but 

 one advice to give, pick them off and destroy 

 them, going over the field for this purpose 

 daily, as the ravages of the green worm do 

 more to injure the quality, perhaps, than any 

 other thing. 



Topping. 



Usually, from three to four weeks from the 

 time of topping, the plant will mature and 

 be ready to cut. Uniform size of leaves, and 

 a stiffness of the leaf, making it liable to 

 break by bending and handling, are the surest 

 signs of maturity. 



When to Cut It. 



Cut after the dew is off, but not during the 

 middleof the day, when the sun is bright, as 

 you must guard against burning while it is 

 undergoing the wilting process, preparatory 

 to spearing and handling in the removal to 

 the shed. 



Hanging It in the Barn. 



When sufficiently wilted, the plan most in 

 practice is spearing or stringing upon laths 

 four feet long, five or six plants to each lath, 

 and then removing the same into sheds, hang 

 up for curing. The distance between the lath, 

 general arrangement of shed and manage- 

 ment thereof, as to ventilation, admission of 

 light, &c., must be attended to. Air and 

 light, having a great influence on the curing 

 and fixing of color, must be used to the best 

 advantage in catering to the tastes of the 

 trade, which, by the way, are subject to fre- 

 quent changes; sometimes light tobacco is in 

 demand and again dark will only meet a ready 

 sale. Strange^ but true, frequently when we 

 have it dark^the buyers want it light and vice 

 versa. 



In removing plants to the shed after cut- 

 ting various devices are used. Sleds, wagons 

 of various styles, or any way in which you 

 succeed without breaking or bruising the leaf 

 is a good plan, and the quickest way, with 

 these ends accomplished, is the best. 

 Stripping. 



By the middle of December, and after, 

 whenever the plant is sufficiently pliable by 

 moisture to strip or handle it without injury, 

 you can strip it; assorting leaves is one of the 

 i)rominent features in the stripping process. 

 All solid leaves should be kept separate as 

 wrappers, and these sorted into hands of ten 

 or twelve leaves, each hand tied at the but by 

 a single leaf. All leaves in the same hand 

 should be of the same length. The hands 

 should then be assorted with reference to 



length into two or three sizes. All defective 

 leaves should be treated alike and put up sep- 

 arately, the respective qualities being bulked 

 separately, ready for market. 

 Packing. 

 The packing or casing is generally done by 

 parties buying it from the grower. I would 

 further add, that so much depends upon little 

 details in the management of a tobacco crop, 

 to bring about the best and highest results, 

 that the details cannot be presented intelligi- 

 bly on paper or even conveyed verbally. 

 General Remarks. 



A personal observation during the season 

 with a practical grower is so highly advanta- 

 geous, that I regard it as almost indispensable 

 to success. All jirofessions and trades require 

 a course of reading and an apprenticeship. 

 Why should we not devote a season to the ac- 

 quisition of toe information so highly essential 

 to success, and which relieves us of much loss 

 of time and expense in experimenting ? 



The large quantity of inferior tobacco con- 

 stantly upon the market is the best evidence 

 of the importance of this feature in the busi- 

 ness. 



NEW 



PROCESS OF BUTTER AND 

 CHEESE MAKING. 



The last number of that thoroughly excel- 

 lent dairy paper, the Americaii Dairyman, 

 contains an article which we reproduce here, 

 describing a new process of making butter and 

 cheese. Our friends, the farmers' wives, who 

 have tired of the weary work of churning, 

 will perhaps see in the new way at least a 

 hope "of deliverance from an onerous task 

 which has full many a time caused them, with 

 tired arms and aching l)ack, to ask if life is 

 really worth living. Says the Dairi/man: 



The air is full of novelties. One would 

 have thought that the centrifugal milk sepa- 

 tor was enough to satisfy the most ardent ad- 

 mirer of ingenious contrivances in aid of the 

 hard-worked dairy maid ; but now a voice is 

 heard, this time from Germany, which 

 promises to spare for the future all labor in 

 the manufacture of butter and cheese, these 

 articles being engaged to submit themselves 

 to the wand of a new magician, whose deli- 

 cate touch will henceforth compel them to 

 extract themselves from their liquid matrix, 

 while tlieir old time tormenter is, I dare not 

 say asleep, for we all know that the "fer- 

 miere" never sleeps, but attending to other 

 matters no less important to the well-being 

 of her family. 



We all know that, if a quantity of cream 

 wrapped in several folds of cloth be buried in 

 the ground, at the end of twenty or thirty 

 hours the water will be found to have left the 

 cream, and the solid particles remaining, well 

 washed to expel the casein, will give a re- 

 markably pure, well flavored butter. The 

 weight of earth resting on the enveloped 

 cream: is the active agent in this change — a 

 change gentle and slow, like all the operations 

 of the great Mother. 



Again : if milk is coagulated by the use of 

 rennet, or by allowing it to turn itself by the 

 formation of lactic acid, a mass is found 

 gathered together in the surrounding whey, 

 which mass, being dried by pressure, is cheese. 

 These facts have been laid hold of by a Ger- 

 man lady who, following out her investigation 

 on the true principles of induction, has con- 

 trived a machine by which butter and cheese 

 may be almost said to make tliemselves. In 

 butter making the cream is put into clean 

 linen l)ags surrounded by two or three folds of 

 coarse canvas. No pressure is employed for 

 the first twelve hours; then weights are grad- 

 ually applied in increased proportions, until 

 at the end of the second day the sack is 

 opened, and the pure butter is found freed 

 from all buttermilk. The manufacture of 

 cheese can be conducted on the s.ame plan, 

 but the ultimate pressure must be greater. 

 The most perfect cleanliness must be observed 

 in this as in every other process connected 

 with the dairy. 



The inventrix of this method, after having 



