﻿6 BULLETIN 16, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



part of the farm is at all times out of commission and not producing 

 any profitable crop. It also means that many undesirable weeds and 

 bushes are given every opportunity to reseed or reestablish them- 

 selves, and it gives the country the general aspect of being roughly 

 and poorly farmed. As such it represents an antiquated, crude, and 

 unsatisfactory type of farming from which we are now trying hard 

 to get away. 



In the New Belt section the growing of tobacco on freshly cleared 

 land is unsatisfactory for the reason already mentioned, while in the 

 Old Belt the proportion of the tobacco crop grown on fresh land is 

 already small, and it is evident that it must in the future constitute 

 a smaller and smaller proportion of the area planted to tobacco. On 

 old land there is no more important problem in the production of fine, 

 bright tobacco than how best to maintain in the soil a sufficient supply 

 of the right kind of decaying vegetable matter, upon which its life 

 and mellowness so largely depend. 



Among the more satisfactory sources of vegetable matter for to- 

 bacco soils of the flue-cured district we may note the rye (or other 

 small grain) fallow and the herd's-grass sod. Rye is in every respect 

 satisfactory from the standpoint of its effect on the quality of the 

 tobacco. It is thought well of by tobacco growers generally through- 

 out the entire flue-cured district, but it is open to one very serious 

 objection for general use as a crop to immediately precede tobacco. 

 Its use necessitates the spring plowing of the land at a time when the 

 teams are always rushed, and very frequently the land will be either 

 too wet or too dry, or some other cause will too often prevent the 

 proper fitting of the land early enough, or well enough, for the best 

 results. When rye is used and turned under entire, it should not be 

 allowed to get too tall and hard. It is best to turn it down when it 

 is about knee high, and before being turned under it should be thor- 

 oughly cut into the soil by going over the field two or three times 

 with the disk harrow, lapping halfway each time so as not to throw 

 the field into ridges. The thicker and ranker the growth of rye, the 

 more imperative it is that a thorough job be done with the disk before 

 the land is plowed. If the rye is cut and removed from the field, the 

 stubble should likewise generally be thoroughly cut to pieces with the 

 disk before plowing the land. 



GRASS IN THE TOBACCO ROTATION. 



All things considered, there is probably no better humus crop for 

 the tobacco rotation than herd's-grass or redtop, at least on practi- 

 cally all the tobacco soils of the Old Belt section and the stiffer soils 

 in the New Belt. Aside from its value as a humus-yielding, soil- 

 improving crop, suited to the tobacco rotation, redtop is a very 

 valuable hay grass. It is suited to southern conditions and will give 



