﻿THE CULTURE OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO. 



23 



made, on the theory that the wide bed holds the moisture better and 

 gives the plant a better start. In most sections, however, the con- 

 sensus of opinion seems to be that the 2-furrow bed is just as satis- 

 factory. In the light soils of the New Belt the bed is put into final 

 shape for planting by dragging down and slightly packing the top 

 of the ridge. A cotton planter drawn along the row is frequently 

 used for this purpose, the plow in front serving to knock off and 

 flatten the ridge while the roller behind compacts it. A plank or 

 log drawn by a mule and wide enough to cover two or more rows 

 at a time is also a satisfactory device. Figure 4 shows an ingenious 

 implement for this purpose devised and used by Mr. B. F. William- 



-1*P .■.■ W&i/Jt-i : 





Fig. 4. — An ingenious form of ridge leveler, for compacting and leveling the beds or 

 lists upon which tobacco plants are to be transplanted. 



son, a noted grower in Darlington County, S. C. This device, by 

 means of the spool-shaped rollers on the front, rounds off the bed 

 so that water can not form pools and drown the plants, and it flattens 

 and compacts the bed at the same time. 



On the rougher soils of the Old Belt section it is more customary 

 to go over the field with a hoe, cutting through the bed and making 

 a pat at each spot where a plant is to be set. The objects of the bed 

 are to get a body of good, soft soil in which to set the plant and to 

 provide that surface water during heavy rains may flow away from 

 the plant and not stand around it and either cover it with silt or 

 drown it outright. But in attaining these objects the less the eleva- 

 tion of the plant the better. 



