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Ediblt Products. 



After Cultivation. -About two or three weeks after planting, according to 

 the state of the weather, the young plants will have put out some fresh leaves ; and 

 it will be noticed that each new leaf will be larger, when developed, than the one 

 immediately below. 



If the weather has been dry, suckers will very quickly make their appear- 

 ance at the junction of the stem with the leaves. These should be removed at once. 

 If, on the other hand, nice moist growing weather has prevailed, suckers will not 

 become troublesome until the plant reaches a height of two feet to three feet ; until, 

 in fact, it is topped. Care should be taken from the first to keep down weeds, but 

 avoid, if possible, trampling on the soil when it is wet ; it is better by far to allow 

 the weeds to remain until the surface of the soil is dry than to trample it into mud. 

 During dry weather the surface of the soil should be kept loose by the use of the hoe, 

 or a small cultivator drawn by a steer, to prevent the escape of the soil moisture. 



Moulding. — When the plants are about a foot high, there is some dauger 

 of their falling over ; advantage should be taken of the first spell of dry weather 

 to give them a light moulding ; this will also cover up the roots that come 

 out during wet weather on the surface near the base of the plant, and protect them 

 from the sun and dry wind. The easiest and best way to mould is to hoe a little 

 soil out from the centre of the three feet space between the rows and scatter it evenly 

 over the distance from there up to the plants; the workman walking in the 

 3-feet space and using the hoe left-and right-handed alternately. This method 

 should be insisted upon, as, by moulding each row of plants separately, 

 there is danger of breaking the leaves and of cutting the roots that are extending 

 towards the middle of the 3-feet space. 



Avoid making a high, sharp ridge when moulding, for it is a veritable 

 death trap to the plants ; they will grow well only as long as there is a large amount 

 of moisture in the atmosphere, but will stop suddenly as soon as the air gets dry. 

 The fact is that the plant has been encouraged to put out roots high up the stem, 

 and on that account has discarded the deeply-laid roots. In such a case, a few day's 

 dry wind is sufficient to absorb all the moisture out of the ridge that is so 

 much above the surrounding level, with the result that the roots contained 

 therein, on which the plant has been depending for its sustenance, very quickly 

 become useless through lack of moisture. The ridge should be low and broad, 

 extending from the centre of one interval to the centre of the next. To enable 

 the workman to place the mould right up to the stem of the plant the small 

 leaves at the base are removed. A No. 1 hoe is the best size for moulding tobacco. 



Topping. — Each successive leaf is larger than the one just below, up to the 

 eighth or ninth ; the next four or five are about the same size, and those developed 

 afterwards get gradually less until those near the infloresence are nothing more 

 than small scales. One object in topping is to ensure all the leaves ripening at 

 the same time, so that the whole plant may be cut ; this only happens when the 

 plants are topped down to the last developed large leaf, e.g., the top one of the 

 four or five that are the same size as each other. 



Some practice is required to be able to judge just where to top the plant as 

 these leaves have not yet developed ; the best way at first is to top down to the 

 twelfth leaf from the bottom those plants in which the flower bud is just discernible, 

 not counting those leaves that were removed in the moulding. 



In poor, sandy soil, planted late, only eight or nine good leaves per plant 

 will be obtained, but in rich soil under the best conditions as many as fifteen good 

 leaves have been secured per plant. 



Suckering. — The topping is the signal for a sudden burst of suckers from 

 the axils of the leaves, those at the top being the quickest to develop. These 



