148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



Transplanting. 

 This should not be done too early. Wait till 

 the plants are well rooted, and have good sized 

 leaves, or till about the middle of June. Some 

 cultivators recommend four feet apart each way as 

 the proper distance between the plants. Others 

 say rows three and a half feet apart and plants 

 two feet four inches apart in the row. The wider 

 distance is recommended ni order to give room to 

 cultivate with a plow without injury to the 'tender 

 roots. Set the plants carefully, drawing up the 

 earth a little around it. Mr. Beardslee, of Con 

 necticut, recommends the covering of the plants 

 with fresh-mown grass when they are first set, if 

 the weather is sunny and warm. In a week or so 

 it may be removed. Mr. Crafts, of Whately, re- 

 commends hay run through the cutting machine. 

 Cultivating and Worraing. 



Prom the time the plants are set, the weeds 

 should be eradicated, and the worms destroyed, 



such as cut the stems 

 and gnaw the leaves 

 when the plants are 

 first set out. They 

 may be found just be- 

 low the surface, near 

 _^the injured plants. 

 'Clean culture must 

 be strictly adhered to 

 by all who would suc- 

 ceed in growing a re- 

 munerating crop. A 

 successful grower in 

 the valley of the Con- 

 necticut, recommends that the weeds should be 



cut up without stirring the soil much below the 



surface, in order to avoid 



injuring the rootlets. A 



light hoe, such as can be 



made of a saw-plate, and 



ground to an edge, and kept 



sharp, is a fit implement to 



destroy weeds among the 



growing plants of tobacco. 



A week after the plants are 5, 



set the cultivator may be run between the rows- 

 After the plant attains much size, such a hoe as 

 described, and the fingers, are the most useful im- 

 plements for weeding, wonning and topping the 

 plants. ^^ Clean Culture" is the motto of every 

 successful tobacco grower, — especially is it so on 

 all lands that have been manured from the barn- 

 yard, and cropped for many years. 



The plants must be carefully watched from the 

 time of setting to the time of harvesting, to pro- 

 tect them from the ravages of the cut-worm and 

 the tobacco-worm, the latter being the larva of 

 SpMnx Carolina, the moth being of a gray color. 

 The worm is large when grown, of green color, 

 with a horn-like caudal appendage, and is a very 

 disgusting looking creature. It requires the great- 

 est vigilance to preserve the plants from being in- 

 ji>red by tobacco-worms. Morning and evening 

 should the plants be examined, and both the 

 worms and the eggs of the moth should be de- 

 stroyed by the thumb and fingers. Be vigilant in 



worming, or else many of the beat leaves of the 

 plants will be ruined for wrap])ers. This may be 

 done by faithful boys, gh-ls and women. 



The following cut represents a perfect tobacco 

 plant, in full blossom : — 



Topping. 

 A Connecticut grower says, "Top when the 

 majority of the plants are ready to blossom, leav- 

 ing ten or twelve leaves below." Another says, 

 "Let as many of the plants blossom as possible 

 without forming seed. Then break oflF to a good 

 leaf. There is more danger of topping too high 

 than too low." A Cuban grower says, "When 

 the plants have from twelve to fourteen good 

 leaves, and are about knee-high, begin to top by 

 nipping off the bud with the thumb and finger, 

 taking care not to injure the leaves near the place 

 of topping ; for in a good season the top leaves 

 will grow nearly as large and ripen as soon as the 



lower ones." The cut shows a plant ready to top. 

 The general average in Cuba is from twelve to 

 fourteen leaves to a plant, and the writer adds 

 that when "from sixteen to eighteen can be ob- 



