230 Next to the Ground 



seeds are small — so small and fine they feel 

 like a pinch of dust between the fingers. They 

 are mixed thoroughly through a panful of light 

 ashy earth before sowing. The bed is dug or 

 harrowed very fine, then marked in three-foot 

 spaces lengthwise. The sower goes up and 

 down by the marks, then across, sowing seed 

 a second time. After that the bed is tramped 

 or rolled smooth, and covered with flat brush 

 — commonly dogwood brush. In the old days 

 the brush-covering sufficed. Now the beds 

 have a mystery to equal that of the burning. 

 It is a hopping mystery — a bug, called the 

 flea-bug, which is about as big as the head of 

 a pin, but owns an appetite many sizes larger. 

 He swarms over the plant beds just as the 

 tiny plants peep through, and eats them off 

 close to the ground, thus ending their infant 

 careers. But for some occult reason the flea- 

 bug will not live under cover. So the remedy 

 for him is to cover your beds — usually with 

 spreads of cheese-cloth stretched over edge- 

 wise planks, enclosing the beds. The cheese- 

 cloth helps the plants as much as it hurts the 

 bug. It keeps in warmth and moisture, and 

 keeps out the ravagers. Plants underneath it 

 grow big enough for setting out at least three 

 weeks earlier than if left without it. 



Since tobacco requires four months to grow 

 and ripen, early setting is worth a good deal. 



