CULTURE AND CURING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 115 



CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO. 



As soon as the plant has rooted and begun to grow, which is shown by the color, and is usually within five or 

 six days, the turn -plow is run, with the bar next the plant, thus "barring" off the soil. The hill is then cleared of 

 weeds with a hoe, and a little fresh earth is drawn to the plant. An excellent authority opposes the use of the 

 plow unless the rows have become very foul, and recommends breaking the crust of the hill with the hoe and drawing 

 loose earth around the plant until it has covered the hill to a breadth of 12 inches. This is probably the better 

 way, but it is too tedious and costly for general practice. 



About a week after the first plowing the earth is thrown to the plant by the plow, and a broad, flat hill is made 

 with the hoe. A third plowing is given before topping, and the hoe hands follow, hilling up well with a high hill. 

 Unless grass and weeds are very prolific this will be cultivation enough. Both the turning-plow and the bull-tongue 

 are used, the former being preferred when the rows are foul. The cultivation is shallow, and the subsoil is but little 

 stirred, and cultivation is avoided after topping unless the weeds and grass require the hoe. 



The plowing is often done with a cotton sweep, which is growing in favor, and cultivation is pushed rapidly by 

 the best planters. In shipping leaf cultivation is continued until August, but in tine tobacco, beginning with plow 

 or hoe when the -plant has commenced growing, it is continued about once in ten days until the 10th or 15th of 

 July. 



. PEIM1NG, TOPPING, AND SUCKEEING OF TOBACCO. 



At the last hoeiug, as a general rule, the bottom leaves are primed off. When it is possible, all plants for fine 

 tobacco are topped by the last of July, or at latest by the 10th of August. There is, however, the greatest diversity 

 of opinion as to both priming and topping. The general rule as to priming, however, is from 4 to C inches, while 

 the range in topping up to the last of July is usually from ten to fourteen leaves. Ten may be taken, however, as the 

 number approved most widely, as measuring that which can be easily matured with the greatest weight and desired 

 texture and color. Planters who adopt a standard of ten top as high as twelve leaves when the plant is gross, or 

 go below that if it appear that ten cannot be properly matured. Topping is usually done at intervals of a week, 

 and at each successive topping fewer leaves are left, so as to make all plants set out at the same time ripen together. 

 The season and the character of the plant have much to do with the topping, but the best authorities assert that 

 those who are tempted to go beyond ten leaves, except with very gross plants, lose in body, oil, and toughness, and 

 gain nothing in weight, texture, or color. Some planters top even as high as twenty leaves on strong land, holding 

 that low topping makes the plant coarse and the fibers large. 



One planter advises topping high in dry weather and low in wet weather, on the ground that if the plant be 

 topped low in dry weather and rains follow it will be surfeited with moisture and the top leaves will grow large and the 

 bottom leaves fall off. If dry weather succeeds wet, the plant having been topped high and the supply of moisture 

 ceasing, the growth is checked, the plant is not filled out, and the leaf grows thin and papery. Perhaps the best 

 rule given as to priming is to allow the tips of the bottom leaves at maturity to hang well clear of the ground. 



Suckers are pulled off when 2 or 3 inches long, and every week, as they appear, until the plant is cut, 

 usually from three to four times. There are two weeks between successive crops of suckers. 



The usual time between planting and topping is about six weeks, but this is so dependent on the season that 

 the time may be from forty to sixty days. The time between topping and cutting is from six to ten weeks, varying 

 according to season and according to soil, gray lands maturing the plant earlier than red lauds. The variation on 

 account of soil is given at as much as four weeks, and the plant will stand longer on strong than on thin land. The 

 method of cultivation also has an influence on the time, shallow culture ripening the plant earlier than deep culture. 

 The time of maturing is also affected by the quality and the quantity of fertilizer used, and the variation in time 

 of planting finds a corresponding variation in the time of cutting, from the last of August to the 15th of October. 



EIPENING TOBACCO. 



Eipening is indicated by the leaf becoming sleek, the fuzz disappearing, and the appearance of dappled yellow 

 spots, called "graining". Dappled leaves make a mahogany leaf when cured; uniform grayish-green color 

 (melon-apple green), when cut, indicates the finest leaf. Poor tobacco, without body, has a smooth, lifeless yellow, 

 improper ripeuing, due to wet seasons, rendering it almost impossible to attain the desired color. The plant will not 

 ripen well in wet seasons, especially when rain follows drought, but it is not injured by rain after it is ripe. It 

 may begin a new growth, but will ripen again in a few days. Cool nights and heavy dews thicken the plant, 

 and cause it to mature rapidly, with good body. 



CUTTING OF TOBACCO. 



Tobacco is always cut thoroughly ripe, unless it is necessary to sacrifice quality to escape total loss from frost. 

 There is a difference of opinion as to the effect of rain or dew, almost all asserting that it does no harm to cut 

 even when wet with rain or dew; yet one of the best authorities on the subject declares that the least water 071 the 

 leaf spoils the color in drying. 



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