20 PROFITABLE FARMING. 



gently but compactly around the roots. He then picks up the plant on the hill 

 as he moves forward, and by the time he reaches the next hill has adjusted the 

 plant in his hand to insert into the hole in the next hill. Thus the "hand plant" 

 facilitates the work. Try it and you will be convinced. There is art in planting 

 properly, as is shown in the increased number of living monuments that attest 

 superior work. But why enter into such minute details? say some. That you 

 may start right, shnan the errors of inexperience, and practice at the start the best 

 methods, as demonstrated by successful practice. 



If the soil is dry when the hills are made, then it will require a "season" for 

 planting. The best come with showers. It is not well to plant soon after a 

 soaking rain, but wait until the land settles. If the plants are good, seasons 

 favorable, and the planting well done, very few will die if transplanted before the 

 .10th of July. After that time aU is uncertainty. Hence the importance of getting 

 a stand before that time. 



After planting is over, it will be necessary to replant from time to time as 

 seasons occur, embracing every opportunity to fill up the missing hills. If cut- 

 worms are troublesome, hunt for and destroy every one as far as possible; for it 

 is useless to put a plant in a hill where one of these pests has taken up quarters, 

 and expect it to live and grow. 



One woman dropping the plants from a basket on the hills for two men to follow planting them. 



Cultivating. — ^It is important to commence cultivation soon after planting, to 

 [loosen the soil and start the plants growing. Just at this point many planters 

 fail to do their duty, which no subsequent work can atone for. Early, rapid and 

 thorough cultivation is necessary to produce first-class tobacco. If the prepara- 

 tion has been thorough, thrice plowing, followed each time with ahan:. hoe will 

 suffice for the crop. ' 



For the first plowing, no implement is better than the wing coulter, the next 

 best the cultivator or double-shovel with the coulter points. The second plowinff 

 maybe effectually done with the turning plow or cultivator; if grassy, iise the 

 first. The last plowing is most effectually done with three furrows with the single 

 shovel— a furrow on each side, then splitting the middle with the ihird and last 

 'furrow. 



