CULTURE AND CURING IN VIRGINIA. 203 



a "jumping colter". Subsequent plowings are various, as the condition of the land or the implements at hand 

 will allow. For tobacco, perhaps more than for any other field crop, thorough pulverization of the soil is absolutely 

 necessary, not only to make the subsequent cultivation rapid and easy, but to bring the whole body of soil iuto 

 such couditiou that plant food can be readily appropriated by the fibrous roots of the plants. 



Subsoiling is practiced to sonic extent, with varying results, in all portions of the tobacco region, the successes 

 and failures being of nearly equal number; but there is no record of injury to the land where the subsoil plow has 

 been used with judgment. 



Experience has demonstrated clearly the benefit of subsoiling on red lands underlaid with stiff clay. The 

 ground, when this operation is in progress, should be so dry that the subsoil can be readily pulverized ; and the work 

 should be so managed that the stratum of subsoil subjected to the operation shall be thoroughly broken, but be left 

 in its original position. If two or three inches or less of clay subsoil be thrown to the surface by an improper 

 use of the turn-plow, the field so treated must lie some years before it is restored to its former productiveness. 



The tobacco-fields, having been broken the preceding fall or winter, are again plowed as early in the spring 

 as the condition of the soil will permit, a third and sometimes a fourth plowing being necessary to put the land in 

 first-class order. These spring plowings are usually done with the double-shovel or other cultivating implement, 

 and frequently it is necessary to use the harrow, or a drag of some form, to break down the clods and fit the soil 

 for subsequent operations. When farm manure is applied, the most approved plan is to haul it upon the land 

 previously broken during the months of March and April, broadcasting it upon the surface, so that it may be 

 thoroughly incorporated with the soil by the repeated plowiugs and harrowings which precede the immediate 

 preparations for planting. 



When the farmer has failed to break tobacco land until spring the various operations of plowing, manuring, 

 replowing, and cultivating follow in the same order; but there is greater difficulty in securing fine tilth. In some 

 instances, upon old clay lands, it has been found best to break in the fall with colters, running close, but without 

 turning under the surface soil. This method is also adopted by many good planters in the preparation of newly- 

 cleared lands, where there is but little sod. 



If the farm-yard manures applied in the early spring are finely broken, so as to be readily and evenly distributed 

 upon the surface, the double-shovel, or some form of cultivator, is used. Should the manure be coarse, strawy, 

 and lumpy, repeated harrowing or dragging is necessary to prepare the surface soil for subsequent cultivation. 



In May, when the plants are ready, the soil is prepared for planting, the methods differing as required by the 

 condition, locality, or situation of the land. In Hanover, Spotsylvania, and adjoining counties it is the practice 

 to mark off the land with a shovel-plow, drill the fertilizer in the furrow, "list" by two furrows of a turn-plow, rub 

 down the ridge with a block or board, and plant. The usual distance between the rows is 3 feet 6 inches, 

 with the plants set at the same distance in the row ; but this varies with the fertility of the soil and the variety of 

 tobacco to be grown. In Buckingham and other south-side counties it is usual to bed upon the fertilized drill and 

 make flat hills with the hand-hoe, chopping the earth finely and marking the position of the plant by a pat of the 

 hoe ; but in Henry county the approved plan is to cultivate just before planting, " check " the land, and make a small, 

 flat hill in each check. This plan admits of plowing both ways, and is preferable on rolling lands, the direction 

 of the rows, and the choice between the two methods of simple rofrs or planting in checks, being determined by the 

 locality and the greater or less liability of the soil to wash. 



SEED-BEDS. 



It is the practice of many careful planters to select beds for forward plants on the hillsides and suitable 

 localities on low or flat land to secure a continued supply of plants. 



The time of sowing tobacco-seed south of the James river, in middle Virginia, is January and February; 

 north of the James river, in February and March. On the upper south-side, in the yellow belt, many planters 

 commence sowing in December, especially in the counties of Halifax and Pittsylvania, and in the Valley the 

 sowing rarely begins until after the middle of February. The date of transplanting depends upon locality, and 

 upon the supply of plants and the season. The south-side planters commence about the 10th of May; on the 

 north side, from the 15th to 20th of May ; in the Valley, near the 1st of June, if the plants are in supply and the hills 

 are sufficiently moist. 



Most planters prefer large plants for old land, and for late planting, on any soil, large stocky plants, with good 

 roots, are best. Small plants, set early in the season, generally do better than larger ones set late. As new lands 

 are better adapted to the manufacturing types, they are generally prepared sooner than the old lands, and small 

 plants are used by preference. There is an old adage, "A bud in May is worth a plant in June." 



The plants are set in hills or drills, as suits the convenience of the planter, at the rate of from 4,000 to 5,000 

 plants to the acre, and sometimes as many as 6,000. Planters in the shipping belt give most distance between the 

 plants, those in the yellow belt, preferring fineness of leaf to body, planting closer. 



The general practice is to pi ant after a rain; but when the season is growing late, and plants are getting overgrown 

 in the beds, the hills are watered and planted. This is more extensively done than formerly, especially on lots 



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