TOBACCO CULTURE. 31 



worms. Later cultivation will fill up the furrow, and the 

 plant has thus a better hold on the ground, and will get 

 more moisture than if set in the usual way. The most suc- 

 cessful hand tool for making holes for the plant is a narrow 

 piece of board about three inches wide and sharpened. It 

 makes a cut in the soil, not a hole. Then when the plant is 

 inserted into this cut, its roots can be spread out and firmed 

 better than in a round hole. 



The Bright Leaf grower follows the Cuban method of fit- 

 ting his land for the crop after the second plowing, except 

 that he drags his beds flat with a log drag, and places his 

 plants thirty inches apart on these beds. In the Burley re- 

 gion, a flexible slab drag takes the place of the log, and a 

 marker is used for indicating the distance of the rows, and 

 the plants are placed level without either ridges or hilis. 



Shipping Tobacco is grown in checks and cultivated 

 both ways. After the second plowing, thorough harrowing 

 follows, and then the marker is run both ways, three and 

 one half feet squares being the result. At the points of 

 crossing, hills are raised by the hoe, a handful of commer- 

 cial fertilizer being usually dropped at each of these points? 

 over which is made the hill on which the plant is to stand. 



Following the preparation of the land, and its being 

 placed in condition for growing the crop, the application of 

 fertilizer or plant food for growing the crop is the first con- 

 sideration. The application of fertilizer being a separate 

 and distinct operation, will be discussed in a chapter by 

 itself. 



