13 



more room each way and should be set 2 feet 4 inches apart in 

 rows 4 feet apart. 



The tap-root of a good tobacco plant will go down over 2 feet 

 and its laterals run 2 and 3 feet each side of the stalk. 



The lateral or feeding roots run just under the surface of the 

 ground so that cultivation must not be deep enough to disturb 

 them, therefore the more need of a clean field at the start. A 

 clean field is much easier to take care of than a weedy one. A 

 garden rake, lightly run over the surface of the ground, disturbs 

 the crust formed by rain, stopping evaporation and killing sprout- 

 ing weed seeds. The field is only occupied by the tobacco 3 to 

 4 months for each crop and should be kept clean for that time. 

 Plants show their appreciation of good care and it pays to attend 

 to their wants. 



Having no frosts in Hawaii, throughout the belt of land that 

 can be planted to tobacco, any backward plant can be left to come 

 to maturity and its leaf finally secured, but such plants must not 

 be allowed to flower or produce seed. 



TOPPIXG AND SUCKERIXG. 



In about seven to eight weeks after setting in the field, the 

 plant will send up a head or seed cluster, which should be removed 

 in all cases before any of the flowers open. 



Topping must not be neglected, as the pollen and falling petals 

 adhere to the green, gummy leaves, causing them to spot in this 

 climate and become worthless. 



Sometimes before topping, but generally after, suckers will 

 start from where the leaf joins the stalk. These must be removed, 

 because they take nutriment from the plant that should go to the 

 leaves, it being leaf development that is wanted. 



After the main crop is harvested, a sucker crop may be raised. 

 It is doubtful if it will pay in Hawaii, as it is a difficult matter 

 to get the sucker to grow from the bottom part of the plant, but 

 if all the upper suckers are kept oft, a bottom sucker will usually 

 start. After all the leaves on the plant are harvested, the stalk 

 should be cut just above the sucker. If this sucker is not allowed 

 to grow before the plant is cut down, it will not start in this cli- 

 mate, the old plant dying down into the root. 



In topping, sometimes a backward plant may be made to in- 

 crease its yield of leaf from 10 to 20 per cent., if topped a little 

 lower than usual and a sucker allowed to grow from the top of 



