Drugs and Medicinal Products, 500 



[December, 1909, 



the beds dark, as this will facilitate 

 germination. The cover should be lifted 

 at times for ventilation purposes. After 

 the seed has come up the same cover- 

 ing can be used at night during the 

 winter months. During the daytime 

 more light should be admitted, although 

 care must be taken to prevent the hot 

 sun burning the plants ; therefore, in 

 addition these grass or reed-mats, cheese 

 cloth or muslin cloth must be used so 

 as to cover the whole bed and to pre- 

 vent flying insects depositing their eggs 

 on the young plants, as was the case 

 with the splitworm which last season 

 destroyed a large number of beds and 

 plants on the fields of neighbouring 

 farms. 



Although at first the seedlings must 

 be protected from the hot sun during 

 the day by means of shade covers, they 

 will soon become stronger and healthier ; 

 they must then be allowed sufficient 

 light, air, and moisture, by gradually 

 taking off the shade. The shade afforded 

 must be made less as the seedlings grow, 

 so as to harden the plants and prevent 

 their becoming weak and long-stemmed, 

 and thereby less able to stand the shock 

 of transplanting and to resist disease- 

 Remedy for Disease and Insects.— Even 

 if the beds are sterilised it is still ad- 

 visable to spray them with Bordeaux 

 mixture as a preventive of fungus 

 diseases. The preparation of Bordeaux 

 mixture has already been described in 

 Farmers' Bulletin, No. 27. 



For seed beds the proportion should 

 be at the rate of fifty gallons of water, 

 three pounds copper sulphate, and two 

 pounds unslaked lime. This spraying 

 could take place after the seed has 

 come up, say once every fortnight. 



For insect pests an application of Paris 

 green mixtuie could be given at the 

 rate of one pound of Paris green and 

 two pounds of lime to two hundred 

 gallons of water. To prepare this mix- 

 ture, take the required amount of water 

 and stir in the necessary amount of 

 Paris green. Then stir in the lime, which 

 has previously been slaked with water 

 in another vessel. Thoroughly stir the 

 whole and apply with a spray pump. 



A greater number of beds are yearly 

 lost through white rust or mildew. If 

 this appears in the beds it is easy to 

 save the seedlings by dusting the foliage 

 with sulphur mixed with one-sixth its 

 quantity of quicklime, which will check 

 the disease. This has been tried on 

 Government tobacco farms and gave 

 splendid results. 



Weeding. — When moistening the beds 

 a great number of weeds are likely to 

 appear ; these should be pulled out as 



soon as possible so as to assure the 

 young seedlings a normal development 

 Weeds utilise the available plant food, 

 to the detriment of the tobacco seedlings. 



Thinning. — If on some parts of the 

 beds the seedlings come up too thickly 

 they will not get sufficient air, light, and 

 space to develop. The bed must there- 

 fore be thinned out. If this is not done 

 there is a great danger of disease making 

 its appearance, and even seedlings which 

 survive will become tender and long- 

 stemmed with an undevelpoed root 

 system, which is very undesirable. 



Size of Seedlings.— The best seedlings 

 for transplanting are those three to four 

 inches in height, having from six to 

 eight leaves. If transplanted when 

 larger it would be found, as there is 

 larger surface for evaporation there is 

 greater risk of dying off, for the rootlets 

 will require a day or two, or sometimes 

 longer, before properly taking hold of 

 the soil. Dead plants can, and must of 

 course, be replaced by fresh seedlings, 

 but this prevents uniformity and 

 maturity, and the planter must therefore 

 do all in his power to avoid losing plants 

 when set out in the field. 



In order to save time and trouble after- 

 wards, the best plan to adopt is to 

 remove and destroy the weak and bad 

 seedlings from the beds at an early date, 

 i.e., those which are yellowish-looking 

 and long-stemmed, also those damaged 

 by insects or diease. If, however, proper 

 care is bestowed upon the seed beds 

 most of the young seedlings will be found 

 to be healthy, and good transplanting 

 material, better able to stand the shock 

 of transplanting, will be available. 



Pulling out Seedlings. — To facilitate 

 the pulling of the young seedlings and 

 to decrease the risk of damaging the 

 leaves, and more especially the rootlets, 

 the seed bed should be thoroughly 

 soaked with water before this work is 

 commenced. 



If the seed has been thinly and evenly 

 sown it will be found that the pulling 

 out can the more easily be done. I do 

 not recommend that all the earth should 

 be shaken and washed off from the roots 

 of the seedlings, as is sometimes advised, 

 for by the latter method the risk of 

 damaging the rootlets is increased, 

 whereas, by adopting the former method 

 the seedlings will take root more easily 

 and quickly when set out in the field. 



When taking seedlings from the bed 

 use a pointed stick, and by running 

 this under the rootlets and then giving 

 it a twisting motion, the soil around the 



J)lant is loosened, and by taking the 

 atter by the tips of the top leaves it can 



