20 BULLETIN 16, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
spindling from being too thick, and they will not thrive when trans- 
planted. This quantity. of seed should be mixed with about 
1 peck of some good bulky material, such as fine, dry fertilizer. In 
sowing, the bed should be gone over both ways in order to insure an 
even distribution. One of the best methods of covering the seed is 
by tramping with the feet. This compacts the soil and presses the 
seed slightly into it. If the bed is sufficiently smooth, a hand roller 
might be used, but it would not usually be practicable for use on 
an ordinary bed in the woods. 
After danger of snow is over, not later than about 10 days be- 
fore it is time for the seed to come up, the bed should be boxed in 
tightly with poles or plank about 6 inches high and covered with 
plant-bed cloth. The cloth will retain the warmth and make the 
plants earlier and, if tight all around and free from holes, will keep 
out flies and other insect enemies. The cloth is kept from sagging 
to the ground by stretching wire on poles across the bed at intervals 
of about 5 steps, or by placing wickets made from green switches 
here and there over the bed. 
About the time the plants begin to come up it is a good plan to 
sow an additional half tablespoonful of seed over the bed on top of 
the cloth. The rains will carry the seed through the cloth into the 
soil and this extra seeding will make a good late drawing of plants 
which may prove useful, and in any ease will not interfere with the 
first sowing. 
If the bed gets weedy it must be picked over by hand, preferably 
during a spell of wet weather. A few days before transplanting, 
the cloth should be removed to harden the plants, or this may be 
done earlier if the plants are becoming overgrown. 
Always to have an abundance of plants when needed is a funda- 
mental factor for success in tobacco growing. Without plants the 
whole year’s work is a failure. A good bed may supply as many 
as 40,000 or 50,000 plants from 100 square yards in two or three 
drawings, but it is not safe to count on more than 10,000 to 15,000 
plants from each 100 square yards sowed. A plant bed with the 
cloth removed and plants ready for transplanting is shown in 
figure 3. 
EARLY AND LATE PLANTING COMPARED. 
The transplanting season in the New Belt section begins early in 
April in South Carolina and continues until as late as the middle 
of June in the western part of the Old Belt, although even in this 
latter section the main plantings are made from about the middle 
to the last of May. In the New Belt the bulk of the crop is gen- 
erally set by May 1. The tobacco which reaches maturity and is 
harvested while the weather is yet warm, say, from the middle of 
August to the middle of September in the western part of the Old 
