TOBACCO 



TOBACCO 



651 



destroyed as soon as they appear, or they can be 

 poisoned with a very light spray of Paris green 

 mixture. The " powder gun" has come into general 

 use and is rapidly replacing the spray pump for 

 poisoning the hornworm and budworm. The grow- 

 ers who still employ the spray pump use one pound 

 of Paris green and an equal quantity of quicklime 

 to 100 gallons of water, this being sufficiently 

 strong to kill the hornworms without injuring the 

 leaves. If a stronger solution is used there is 

 danger of burning the leaves, so that patches of 

 green will appear after curing. A mixture of one 

 pound of Paris green to thirty pounds of lime or 

 land-plaster (gypsum) is recommended for use in 

 the powder gun. 



Zimmer Spaniih and Little Dutch tobaccos. 



The preparation and care of the seed-bed for 

 Zimmer Spanish and Little Dutch varieties, and the 

 preparation of the soil, methods of transplanting 

 and cultivating, harvesting-, curing and ferment- 

 ing are essentially the same as for Connecticut 

 Havana. The plants should be set in rows three 

 feet apart and the seedlings set fifteen to twenty 

 inches apart in the rows. The plants should be 

 topped so as to leave about sixteen leaves for each 

 plant. The average yield of the Zimmer Spanish 

 variety is about 600 pounds to the acre, while the 

 yield of the Little Dutch variety is considerably 

 less. 



Maryland smoking tolaceo. 



The seed-bed should be located on a dark, friable, 

 loamy soil with a southern exposure. The old 

 method of burning the seed-bed has been largely 

 abandoned, but, if used, care should be taken to 

 burn only small timber and brush. A large quan- 

 tity of ashes is detrimental to the growth of the 

 young plants. All trees within thirty or thirty-five 

 feet should be cut down and piled on the north and 

 west sides of the bed for a partial protection 

 against the cold winds. 



The sides of the bed should be eight to ten 

 inches high, and wires three feet apart should be 

 stretched across it. The beds can be covered with 

 light cheese-cloth or tobacco-bed cloth, after the 

 seed has been sown. The covering serves as a pro- 

 tection against the ravages of flea -beetles and 

 other insects, provided there are no open spaces 

 around the bed. When cloth is not used for a 

 covering, the beds must be closely guarded against 

 the attacks of the flea-beetle. When this insect 

 first makes its appearance, the plants should be 

 treated with Paris green at the rate of one pound 

 to thirty pounds of land-plaster. The cloth cover- 

 ing should be removed from the beds at least a 

 week before transplanting, to prevent the injurious 

 effects of the radical change from the seed-bed to 

 the open field. 



The bed should be spaded to a depth of four or 

 five inches, and all roots and tufts carefully 

 removed. The soil must be thoroughly pulverized 

 with garden hoes, hand-rakes or other suitable 

 implements. Before the last stirring, an application 

 of a highly nitrogenous fertilizer should be evenly 



distributed over the bed and thoroughly incorpo- 

 rated in the soil. A mixture of fifty pounds of 

 nitrate of soda, forty pounds of fine-ground bone, 

 and ten pounds of carbonate of potash, applied at 

 the rate of thirty pounds per square rod, is highly 

 recommended. In most cases it is advisable to 

 replenish the plant-food with a top-dressing or 

 fertilizer of the same composition as that of the 

 first application. This should be applied in liquid 

 form wherever it is possible to wash it in 

 thoroughly; otherwise it is important to top-dress 

 the beds only on hot, dry days. The top-dressing 

 should be used when the plants are two to three 

 inches high. 



Sow the seed at the rate of two tablespoonfuls to 

 the square rod. It can best be uniformly distributed 

 over the bed by mixing with wood-ashes or land- 

 plaster, dividing it into two equal parts, and sowing 

 half of it over the bed crosswise and the other half 

 lengthwise. All weeds and grass should be removed. 

 It is seldom necessary to water the plant-beds, 

 except in the case of unusually dry weather. Water 

 at this time is very essential. It should be applied 

 as in the northern seed-beds, but less frequently, it 

 being seldom necessary to water the beds more 

 than twice a week. 



Fig. 880. Tobacco In curing shed. 



Care must be used to wet the seed-bed thoroughly 

 before drawing the plants, thus protecting the roots 

 from injury. The mottled or mosaic tobacco, so 

 common in Maryland tobacco-fields, is frequently 

 due to the practice of drawing the plants when the 

 soil is not thoroughly moistened. The plants should 

 be set in the field in rows thi-ee and one-half feet 

 apart and the plants twenty to thirty-five inches 

 apart in the row. 



Tobacco should be preceded by a leguminous 

 crop of some kind, hairy vetch being highly 

 recommended for this purpose. In addition to the 

 nitrogen from the leguminous crop, a fertilizer 

 rich in potash and containing a moderate amount 

 of phosphoric acid should be added before trans- 

 planting. The best stand is secured in the field 

 when the land has been plowed deeply and harrowed 

 several times, thus leaving a thoroughly pulverized 

 soil for the reception of the plants. The method 

 of cultivation, topping, suckering, and harvesting 



