TOBACCO 533 



setting is much preferred, partly because, with tobacco 

 cured with little or no artificial heat, conditions are much 

 better for curing the early crop than for tobacco that ripens 

 after cool weather begins. 



Plants are usually ready to be set in the field 9 to 10 

 weeks after the sowing of the seed, or at a shorter interval 

 when the seed-bed is planted late. 



Before removing the young plants from the seed-bed, the latter 

 is thoroughly moistened. Then the young plants are carefully 

 lifted, carried to the field, and set with the least possible delay. 

 Some Florida growers prefer to wash from the roots the adher- 

 ing soil of the plant bed. 



Setting of plants is usually done by the use of a short, sharp- 

 ened stick or peg. For setting large areas, a transplanting 

 machine is advantageously employed. This machine (Pig. 219), 

 manned by a driver and by two men to drop the plants, sets, 

 waters, and places soil around the plants at one passage along the 

 row. 



In three or four days after setting, or as soon as the dying 

 plants can be detected, the field should be reset. 



522. Cultivation or tillage. — About a week after the 

 plants are set, the field should be tilled. The first culti- 

 vation may be deep, if loosening of the soil is rendered 

 necessary by previous tramping while setting the plants 

 or by the compacting of the soil as the result of heavy 

 rains. All later tilling should be shallow and repeated at 

 frequent intervals. With shade-grown tobacco, cultivation 

 is given weekly. Usually two hoeings are required. Tillage 

 usually ceases, especially in shade-grown tobacco, when 

 the buttons or flower heads appear or when the leaves 

 become too large. 



523. Topping. — This practice consists in removing 



