CULTURE AND CURING IN PENNSYLVANIA. 151 



SETTING OUT THE PLANTS. 



The field should be ready to receive the plants when the latter have put forth four leaves and are about 4 

 inches across. There is diversity of opinion as to planting in dry weather, some being in favor of planting just so 

 soon as the plants are of the proper size, whether the ground is wet or dry, while a large majority prefer to wait 

 days, and even a week or more, for rainy weather. When plants are set in dry ground the work is tedious and costly, 

 and great care is required in every detail of the operation. The water-cart accompanies the planters, and water is 

 poured about the plants when set out, this being repeated a number of times in dry seasons, the inevitable 

 consequence of which is that the ground about the tender plants becomes hardened and the surface baked, retarding 

 growth and delaying cultivation. Set out in moist soil, under favorable conditions the plants grow off quickly 

 and are soon out of danger from the cut- worm ; less replanting is necessary, an even stand is more surely obtained, 

 and cultivation can be commenced much sooner. 



In order that the plants should have a good start great care is exercised in setting them in the ground. 

 Formerly a pointed stick was used to punch a hole in the ground, into which the roots of the plants were crowded 

 without order or arrangement. Now, however, more attention is given to this matter. The roots are spread 

 out into their natural position, and then covered with earth, which is gently pressed down upon them. A few 

 successful planters iu dry seasons put about half a pint of water on the ground where the plant is to-be set, and 

 when this has well soaked into the ground the plant is put in place. No second watering is necessary. This 

 method seems to possess very decided ad vantages over that of watering simply after the plants are put in position. 



A hot sun, long continued, often renders some artificial covering for the plants necessary. Small pieces of 

 paper are generally used, as being inost convenient and easily obtainable. The leaves of other plants or pieces 

 of shingles are also frequently called into service. This is continued until the plants are well set and iu no further 

 danger from this source. Plants are very often set out while still too small, but nothing is gained by such a course. 

 They will make more growth in the seed-bed in two days than in a week after transplanting, and a large, strong 

 plant not only has more chances of growing in the field, but will grow faster. 



FIELD CULTIVATION. 



The cut- worms in some seasons destroy many plants, and these must be replaced. In 1879 many planters were 

 compelled to replant their fields three times, owing to the ravages of these destroyers, they being far more numerous 

 in some years than in others. Any sickly-looking plant is also removed, or another one is set by its side to supply 

 its place in case it should die. The search for the cut- worm is continued until the plant is too large to be injured by it. 



The cultivator or the shovel-plow is run twice through each space between rows, and care is taken that the 

 earth is not thrown upon the plant. The hoe is used in making nearer approaches to the plant, as well as to 

 pulverize the large lumps of earth that may be lying near it. All the weeds are carefully cut down, and particular 

 care is taken to keep the ground around the plant loose and in good order. 



These earliest stages of the life of the plant are regarded as requiring the utmost care. The hoe and the 

 cultivator are kept going constantly, and destroy the weeds so effectually that they give no trouble later in the 

 season ; and, beside, the looser and finer the soil is, the more moisture it will absorb from the atmosphere, which in 

 dry seasons is a consideration of no little importance. This cultivation continues until the great size of the leaves 

 6nally puts an end to it. 



WORMING THE TOBACCO. 



When the danger from the cut-worm has been passed successfully attention is directed to its immediate 

 successor, the tobacco-worm, as, if left undisturbed, it will soon ruin the most promising field. Pennsylvania 

 tobacco being used almost entirely for cigar-making, defective leaves, unfit for wrappers, materially depreciate the 

 value of a crop. The earlier worms appear about the 1st of July, and it is well understood that thorough work at 

 this period secures comparative exemption from them later in the season. The plants are examined two or three 

 times a week, so that the eggs of the moth may be found before the worm is hatched out or the young worms killed 

 before inflicting any injury upon the leaf. Various devices are employed for killing or entrapping the moth, some 

 of which have proved fairly successful; but no plan has been devised so certain and reliable as hand-picking. 

 The use of poisons, mixed with sweetened waters and dropped into the blooms of the Jamestown weed, planted for 

 the purpose, is more or less practiced; but, as bees are kept by many farmers, this method is regarded as somewhat 

 hazardous. 



TOPPING AND SUCKEEING. 



The hunt for worms continues until the day the tobacco is carried from the field. Topping is a matter into 

 which so many considerations enter that every man makes a rule for himself, modified by the several kinds of 

 tobacco, the varying soils, the season, and the condition of the crop. The custom is to top about the time the- 

 blossom bud makes its appearance, which in Pennsylvania is about the 1st of August in an average season ; others 

 top when the desired number of leaves has appeared. Where the soil is thin and the plants backward, or when 



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