64 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



both of labor and fuel to burn early. I would 

 add, that labor and fuel would be still farther 

 economized, if, instead of heaping the brush in 

 your new grounds and burning it out of the 

 way, you would pile if. on the spot selected for 

 your plant patch, which, weighted with a little 

 refuse wood, I have found to burn well, and an- 

 swer every purpose. 



Our writer in speaking of the preparation of 

 the plant bed, recommends (hat the ground be 

 "broken up about two inches deep with the 

 grubbing-hoes," &c. I feel fully persuaded he 

 has fallen into an error on this point; for it is 

 well known, that plants are very liable to suffer 

 from drought in the spring; by breaking up the 

 ground then as deep as practicable with the 

 grubbing-hoe, (being careful always not to turn 

 up an}' subsoil) you ensure a better supply of 

 moisture. Some of the best planters I am ac- 

 quainted with use the coulter altogether for this 

 purpose, which not only saves hoe labor, but 

 enables them to break their land deeper, which 

 they think a matter of great importance. It 

 would not be out of place to mention here, that 

 there is a method of preparing plant patches 

 adopted by some of our most successful planters, 

 which I consider a great improvement, and as it 

 seems to have been unknown to our writer, or 

 at any rates not mentioned by him, I will at- 

 tempt to describe it. I refer to the practice of 

 underlaying with tobacco stalks. This is, no 

 doubt, familiar to many of your readers, though 

 probably not to all. After the patch is tho- 

 roughly hoed up, chopped fine, and raked, com- 

 mencing at one edge, a trench is made along its 

 entire length with a broad hoe, the width of the 

 hoe and about two and a half inches deep. The 

 bottom of this trench is then covered with stalks, 

 laid in with the hand one course thick, lengthwise 

 and straight. When this is done, another trench 

 is made similar to the first, and as near the first 

 as possible without interrupting the stalks laid 

 down ; the earth taken out in order to form this 

 second trench, is placed on the stalks, and fills 

 up the first trench; the earth out of the third 

 trench, in like manner, is placed on the stalks 

 laid down in the second, and so on. By this 

 means the whole patch is underlaid with stalks. 

 The operation is simple and expeditious, and the 

 plants are thus furnished with a manure better 

 suited, both to their tastes and warns, than any 

 other which can be found. It is best to select 

 spots on alluvial branch flats to underlay, and 

 the same spot may be burned and underlaid 

 every year for a score of years, and it will be- 

 come better and better — the stalks enriching and 

 preventing the soil from becoming close. It is 

 only necessary for any one, who has never tried 

 this plan, to try it, and he will be convinced that 

 it is greatly superior to any which is practised, 

 both for quantity and quality of plants. 



Seeding. — There is a very common mistake 



made, I think, in sowing our beds too thick, 

 whereby the plants are small, yellow and sickly. 

 The quantity of seed spoken of by our writer, 

 viz: "a table spoonful to the hundred square 

 yards," is the proportion I got from a successful 

 planter, and have always adopted with good 

 results. The first of February is recommended 

 by our writer as the best season for sowing ; I 

 think, however, we have succeeded best when 

 we have sowed before Christinas. I have 

 thought when we came to transplant, that the 

 plants from early sowing had better roots; I 

 suppose the tobacco seed, like other seeds, in the 

 first stages of germination, shoots its root down 

 into the soil, some time before the stalk makes 

 its appearance above the surface. This fact we 

 have often noticed in corn, snaps, &c. and it may 

 be, that the tobacco seed, by having more time 

 allowed it, becomes better rooted. Of one thing 

 I am fully satisfied — that flies do not destroy an 

 early sowed patch as readily as one which is 

 later sowed. I have frequently seen the plants 

 eaten by the fly, or more properly, Jlea, (for they 

 have no wings, and seem to be the smallest of 

 the grasshopper tribe, of a dark brown color,) 

 until you could scarcely see a leaf left, and the 

 early sowed, would put out from the bud and 

 do well, while the late sowed would be so much 

 crippled as to die. This I have attributed to 

 the former being better rooted, and consequently 

 better able to resist injuries. Our practice is to 

 sow when we burn, any time after the first of 

 December; before that lime, it might be unsafe, 

 as a warm spell might cause the seed to sprout 

 too early, and render them liable to be killed by 

 the frosts of winter. We then cover thick with 

 naked brush, as soon as the ground is trod, 

 which covering is never taken off at all until 

 about two weeks before we transplant, unless 

 the spring is unusually wet, or the patch hap- 

 pens to be on land disposed to be springy — in 

 either of which cases, we do so, that the sun 

 and air may dry the soil. A thick coat of brush 

 answers the double purpose of protecting the 

 plants from the frosts as well as from the drought 

 of spring. We manure our plants the first time 

 when they are about the size of a ninepence, 

 with fine stable manure, which should be kept 

 carefully dry for the purpose, and then, in about 

 two weeks, give them another top dressing of 

 the same. The first dressing should be light, 

 to avoid smothering the plant, and neither should 

 be put on when the plants are wet with either 

 dew or rain. The practice of manuring with 

 stable manure early, when the horses are fed on 

 ha}', is inadvisable, on account of the grass seed ; 

 but if put on after the plants have grown to the 

 size above mentioned, the grass will never inter- 

 fere. We never find it necessary to take off the 

 brush, either to top dress or hand weed. These 

 can both be done about as soon as the brush 

 could be removed and replaced. We find no 



