22 VARIETIES OF TOBACCO SEED DISTRIBUTED IN 1905-6. 



heat is distributed evenl} T through the soil in the seed bed, while in 

 the case of hot-water or steam pipes the surface of the bed or the air 

 space is likely to be hot while the soil may remain cold and in poor 

 condition for the growth of the young plants. 



The soil for the^seed beds should be fertilized with a highly nitroge- 

 nous fertilizer, the one most commonly used being cotton-seed meal 

 in combination with a complete fertilizer containing phosphoric acid 

 and soluble potash. ■ This fertilizer should be thoroughly worked into 

 the soil. 



In preparing the soil for the sowing of the seed, it should be most 

 carefully handled, so that at the time of sowing it is in a fine, loose, and 

 friable condition, with an even surface. As the tobacco seed is very 

 small, it is necessary to have the soil in the finest possible tilth in 

 order to present a uniform condition for the seed. During the growth 

 of the young plants it is well to sprinkle over the beds a light dress- 

 ing of nitrate of soda, dissolved in water, after which it should be 

 washed into the soil with a light and fine spray of water. It is some- 

 times found desirable to add a light application of phosphorus, in the 

 form of ground bone and carbonate of potash, if the soil is found to 

 be deficient in these elements of plant food. It is the usual practice 

 in the North to sprout half of the quantity of seed used for sowing 

 in moist but not too wet apple-tree punk or rotted cocoanut fiber 

 about one week before the time for sowing the bed. For this pur- 

 pose the seed is thoroughly mixed with the punk and placed in a glass 

 jar, which should be kept in a warm room. The seed will sprout 

 quickly in this medium, and it is probable that earlier plants can be 

 secured from such sprouted seed than from sowing the dry seed alone. 

 The sprouted seed should be sown about the time the sprouts are one- 

 eighth to one-fourth inch in length. Many growers sow the sprouted 

 seed as soon as the seed coats burst and the sprouts appear. If the 

 sprouts become too large they will be injured during the process of 

 sowing. An equal quantity of dry seed should be mixed with the 

 sprouted seed when the beds are ready for sowing. 



It has been found by comparative tests made by the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry that in most cases the dry seed produces plants about as 

 early as the sprouted seed, and the plants from the dry seed are more 

 uniform in size and apparently more hard}^ than those raised from the 

 sprouted and diy seed combined. In order to get an even distribution 

 of seed over the seed bed in sowing, it is a good plan to mix the dry 

 seed and the sprouted seed with several times its bulk of land plaster 

 or gypsum, or, if this is not obtainable, corn meal or ashes, so the 

 seed can be sown more evenly over the bed. One to two tablespoon- 

 fuls of seed should be used for every 100 square 3 T ards of seed-bed 

 surface. 



