CONNECTICUT HAVANA TOBACCO. 21 



top of it in a slanting- position, so that the plants will receive all of 

 the sunlight possible. 



The best method of covering the bed is by means of glass in sash 

 about 3 feet wide b} r 8 feet long. These sash are laid over the top of 

 the framework and of course can be removed at an}' time when it is 

 necessary. In some cases heavy cheese cloth or tobacco cloth is sub- 

 stituted for the glass covering, but the temperature of the beds can 

 not be regulated so well as with the glass cover, and the cloth should 

 not be used where 'very early plants are desired. It is claimed by old 

 tobacco growers, however, that the plants raised under cloth are more 

 hardy than those raised under glass, and it is a frequent practice to 

 grow the early plants under glass and the later seedlings under cloth. 

 In Plate II, figure 2, are shown the cloth tent seed bed, the cloth- 

 covered cold-frame seed bed, and the glass-covered seed bed, which 

 are most practicable and successful for the raising of seedlings. 



When it is necessary to water the seed bed the sash are removed 

 temporarily and the water is applied in the form of a fine spray. As 

 soon as the watering is completed the sash are replaced in their origi- 

 nal positions. If it becomes necessary to air or cool the beds one or 

 more sash can be raised until the desired object is accomplished. 



The soil for the seed bed should be a light sandy loam, as free from 

 weed seed, fungous diseases, and insect pests as possible. It has been 

 found that b} T sterilizing the soil used in the seed bed the expense of 

 weeding the beds can be done away with. The sterilization of the 

 seed-bed soil results in the production of better plants than are grown 

 in soil which has not been sterilized and also destroys the fungous 

 spores which frequently interfere with the successful raising of young- 

 plants. In Plate III, figure 2, is shown a simple and practicable 

 method of sterilizing the soil with steam. The upper 6 inches of 

 the soil in the seed beds is removed and placed in an ordinary wagon 

 box, in the bottom of which three perforated pipes are laid and 

 attached to a steam boiler. The sterilization process requires about 

 40 minutes for each wagon box of soil, the time being determined by 

 placing. a potato in the soil and supplying steam until the potato is 

 baked. A large quantity of surface soil in the seed beds can be steril- 

 ized in this manner in a comparatively short time with little expense. 



A successful method of heating seed beds is by the use of fresh 

 horse manure. In this case the beds should be dug out 2 feet deep 

 about a week before the time for sowing the seed. The fresh manure 

 should be packed in this space to a depth of li feet and covered with 

 6 inches of the sterilized soil. Another successful method of heating 

 the seed bed is by the use of hot- Water or steam pipes, laid around the 

 sides of the bed or under the surface of the soil. General experience 

 has proved, however, that the manure beds are equal in value, if not 

 superior, to the artificially heated ones, mainly from the fact that the 



