Transplanting 



Transplanting occurs from late March to early 

 May in Georgia and Florida, South Carolina, and 

 eastern North Carolina, and from May through 

 June in other growing areas. Just before the 

 plants are transplanted, the final field preparation 

 is made by repeated disking and rolling or 

 harrowing, and smoothing and furrowing the 

 surface soil. Sometimes the field is left level, and 

 other times it is ridged and the plants set on the 

 ridges. Ridging is the prevailing practice in flue- 

 cured and, to some extent, in the dark types, and 

 level culture is chiefly used in the cigar types, 

 burley and Maryland. 



Two methods are used in transplanting the 

 tobacco seedlings into the field: (1) By power- 

 drawn transplanting machines; (2) by use of a 

 hand transplanter. 



(1 ) The power-drawn transplanting machine is 

 the most widely-used method for planting. It is 

 operated by a driver, and carries two, four, or 

 eight persons on "setters," who ride the machine 

 and alternate in placing or guiding the plants into 

 the mechanism which spaces them at the proper 

 intervals in the row. The machine opens the 

 furrow, dumps a measured quantity of water, and 

 draws the soil about the roots of the plants. 



(2) The hand transplanter is a device of light- 

 weight metal, about 3 1 /2 feet (1.1 meter) in length, 

 cone-shaped at the bottom, and with a handle at 

 the top. It carries a watersupply, and has an open- 

 ing through which the plant is dropped. It makes a 

 hole in the soil, and with one operation of the 

 handle, drops the plant, and releases the proper 

 quantity of water. The worker sets the plant by 

 pressing the soil around it with his foot. 



The spacing of plants in the fields differs widely 

 among types and classes. The width between 

 rows averages 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1 .2 meters), with 

 the plants 12 to 24 inches (304.8 to 609.6 

 millimeters) apart in the rows. This spacing allows 

 for 5,000 to 1 1 ,000 plants per acre. 



attempt to replace the terminal bud. Since the 

 purpose of topping is to increase the size and 

 weight of the leaves, these suckers must be re- 

 moved at intervals either by hand or controlled by 

 the use of chemicals. The time and height of 

 topping can have great effects on the yield and 

 quality of the cured leaf and are among the most 

 critical decisions the grower must make. 



The number of leaves remaining on the plant 

 after topping usually varies from 18 to 26 in the 

 flue-cured, Maryland, burley, and cigar types, 

 and about 14 in the fire-cured and dark air-cured 

 types. 



IV. HARVESTING AND CURING 



Harvesting 



When the crop is mature, 60 to 90 days after 

 transplanting, it is harvested by one of two 

 methods: (1 ) by "priming" in which the leaves are 

 picked individually from the plant as they ripen; or 

 (2) by "stalk-cutting," in which the entire plant or 

 stalk is cut. 



Much of the success in curing tobacco 

 depends on its being harvested at just the right 

 stage of maturity— neither too ripe nor too green. 

 This critical point in the production of good 

 quality tobacco occurs when the leaves begin to 

 turn a yellowish color. It takes an experienced eye 

 to recognize the proper stage of ripeness. Such 

 experience is gained only through long years of 

 growing and harvesting tobacco crops. 



The harvesting of tobacco is still largely 

 accomplished by hand labor. Mechanical har- 

 vesters are now commerically available for flue- 

 cured tobacco, but the costs and reliability of 

 such specialized machines prohibits their wide- 

 spread use on small acreages. 



(1) Priming— Flue-cured and cigar wrapper 

 tobaccos are harvested by the priming method. 

 Puerto Rican filler is also harvested almost 



Cultivation 



The cultivation methods of tobacco crops are 

 similar to those practiced for other row crops. The 

 main purpose is to keep the soil loose and 

 eliminate weeds and grasses. The soil must be 

 well drained and aired. Chemical herbicides are 

 now widely used to control grasses. 



Topping— When the plant begins to produce 

 flowers, it is topped by breaking or cutting off the 

 upper portion of the plant at about the third leaf 

 below the flower. This allows the remaining 

 leaves to draw additional nutrients and thus 

 become larger, thicker, and heavier. Upon 

 removal of the flower, lateral buds or "suckers" 

 begin to develop and grow in the leaf axils in an 









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Flue-cured tobacco is harvested 

 leaves. This priming platform car 

 fields. 



