WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO. 33 



low, but the stalk will still be green. In order to cure out the stalk, 

 the temperature can be raised to 175° F., at the rate of 5 degrees an 

 hour, where it should remain until the stalks are thoroughly dried. 

 Great care must be taken during the entire process of curing not to 

 allow the temperature to fall, for a lowering of the temperature dur- 

 ing the process of curing invariably produces discolorations in some 

 parts of the leaf. 



WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO. 



The seed bed should have a slightly southern exposure in order to 

 get the benefit of the warm rays of the sun in the early spring, and 

 the beds should be protected from cold winds. The best soil for the 

 White Burley tobacco is a rich, friable, virgin loam or sandy soil. 

 The best plan is to burn and prepare the seed bed on old sod lands. 

 Many farmers select a spot in a vegetable garden and cover it with 

 virgin mold taken from the woods, and sow it, after thoroughly burn- 

 ing the land until it has a reddish or brick-like appearance, when it 

 should be spaded up and thoroughly chopped over with hoes until it is 

 fine and even. The ashes should not be raked off, but should be thor- 

 oughly mixed in with the soil. As soon as the ground can be worked 

 in the spring, it should be lightly spaded and thoroughly loosened to a 

 depth of '2 or 3 inches with harrows or hand rakes. When in good 

 condition, it should be marked off in beds about 4 or 5 feet wide and 

 seeded. It is the usual custom with this variet} r to use a heaping table- 

 spoonful of seed for every 100 square yards of seed bed. After sow- 

 ing, the best plan is to run a heavy hand roller over the bed or press it 

 with a board or with the feet. As a rule, the bed is tramped over with 

 the feet until the surface is packed. The seed bed is usually protected 

 b} T a canvas covering to prevent the ravages of flea-beetles and to keep 

 the bed -moist and warm. 



The preparation of the land is generally begun in the month of 

 March, the usual plan being to' turn under the soil with a 2-horse 

 plow to a depth of about 8 inches. About the middle of April a 

 revolving disk or harrow is run over the land in order to cut the sod 

 to pieces, after which the field is smoothed over with a slab drag. It 

 is very rare for fertilizers or manure of any kind to be used in the 

 White Burley districts. Tobacco stalks and trash from the barnyard 

 are preferred to any other fertilizer for this tobacco. Owing to the 

 fact that the crop is grown for two years and the field is then put in 

 rotation with other crops, the fertility of the soil is maintained. 



The tobacco plants are usually set after a shower, or when there is 

 no rain they are set out in the afternoon. The land is cultivated with 

 a bull-tono-ue cultivator during the first week or so, and then culti- 

 vated every week with a double-shovel cultivator as long as it is possible 

 to do so without injury to the plants. As soon as the cultivation is 



