CONSERVATION PRACTICES FOR TOBACCO LANDS 31 



outlets should extend back far enough so that drainage from row ends 

 will flow over a socl strip to enter the main channel. (6) The outlet 

 needs to be kept seeded, fertilized, and repaired at all times to assure a 

 dense growth of protective vegetation (fig. 20). (7) The best plants 

 for protecting outlets will vary considerably with soil, climate, and 

 other factors so that no individual plant or combination of plants can 

 be recommended for all situations. The advice of local soil conserva- 

 tionists or agronomists on the plants to use in outlets should be 

 obtained. 



Secondary Waterways in Tobacco Fields 



The over-all water disposal system is provided by the network of 

 terraces and terrace outlets discussed in the preceding paragraphs. 

 In many tobacco fields small depressions resulting from erosion may 

 occur across terrace intervals. Whenever practicable these should be 

 filled in before the terraces are built, so that continuously drained crop 

 rows may be extended across them. However, where such depressions 

 have not been eliminated and are sharp enough to cause row breakage 

 they should be kept in permanent vegetation and used as waterways 

 for the crop rows that otherwise cross them. Once these waterways 

 are well stabilized with vegetation they should be skipped in plowing 

 and cultivating operations. When these waterways finally become 

 filled by cultural practices they can be planted to tobacco like the rest 

 of the field. 



CULTURAL PRACTICES UNDER THE IMPROVED ROW SYSTEM 

 ON TOBACCO LAND 



Cultural practices under the improved row system can be the same 

 as under any other method of row lay-out in common use. Cultivation 

 will be as easy as with any contour pattern. The effectiveness of the 

 system, however, depends on the combination of ridge-row cultivation 

 and a moderate but continuous row grade, which enables each row to 

 carry its own water without overtopping. 



In the flue-cured belt the various steps of the tillage procedure gen- 

 erally followed are briefly as follows : Following initial land prepara- 

 tion, rows are marked off and opened with a single-hoe type of plow. 

 Fertilizer is drilled into this furrow and mixed with the soil after 

 which the rows are listed to cover the fertilizer and to form a ridge 

 for planting (fig. 21, A). The'balk middles are thrown to the ridge 

 either before or after planting. Plants are set on these ridges by 

 hand or by machine. The first cultivation, followed by a hoeing im- 

 mediately around the plant, leaves the ground surface almost flat 

 again and is sometimes followed by a shovel plow along the middles 

 to open a well-defined furrow. Later cultivations work the soil toward 

 the row and gradually build up a definite ridge. 



Some farmers use a cultivator for the second and third cultivation, 

 while others use a Stonewall plow, sometimes called a cotton plow, 

 with adjustable wings and sweeps. The last cultivation tends to leave 

 the ridge reasonably broad and as high as possible. A one-horse turn- 

 plow with the larger size molclboard, and sometimes with an added 

 sweep, is ordinarily used for this laying-by and may be followed by 

 some type of sweep along the middles (fig. 21, B) . 



