TOBACCO CULTURE. 19 



land to be used. For a large area, a uniform width should be 

 used ;narro\v beds with walks, being the most economical 

 shape, since by this means, every part of the bed is accessible 

 either for working or removing plants. The same plan may 

 be followed with a square bed by subdividing it into narrow 

 four foot beds, as is done in the heavy tobacco districts, 

 where some of the beds cover 1,600 square yards. 



The ground should be thoroughly plowed, dug with a 

 mattock or spaded, and then made as mellow as possible by 

 the use of the harrow rake, or hand cultivator. The surface 

 should then be smoothed over with a garden rake, and all 

 litter, unbroken lumps, and other incumbrances removed. 

 Only chemical fertilizers which are quick acting and free 

 from weed seed should be used. These should be applied 

 broadcast, and raked in. The first application should be 

 light, as it is desirable to apply fertilizer in the form of sol- 

 ution from time to time during the growth, of the plants. 

 Thorough raking with an ordinary garden rake is the most 

 effective way of properly fining the soil, and in finishing off 

 this raking process the rake should be carefully drawn 

 across the bed evenly as possible, thus leaving very small 

 furrows from its teeth in the fine soil. The seed is sown in 

 these furrows. Seed thus sown will come up in perfectly 

 uniform rows, and after the plants put on their second set 

 of leaves, the bed may be gently raked, so as to break any 

 crust formed after rains, and to loosen the soil about the 

 young plants. 



