12 



If the acreage is large enough to warrant the outlay, trans- 

 planting machinery may be employed. With three men and a good 

 team, from two to four acres of tobacco can be transplanted in one 

 day. These machines set the plant, water it and pack the dirt 

 around it, and, when running in proper shape, do the work more 

 uniformly than a gang of laborers. 



Young plants can also be set with a flat, round-pointed dibble. 

 This instrument leaves a deep, narrow opening in the soil, allow- 

 ing room for the lateral roots to stand out straight and the earth 

 is firmed up against the plant. The roots are then in a good 

 position and not cramped up in a small, round hole. If water is 

 used during planting, the hole left by the dibble in firming the 

 plant, is the proper place to apply the water. 



Care should always be used in handling young tobacco plants, 

 as the leaves and shoots are very brittle and tender and break 

 easily. Tobacco should be planted on slightly raised ridges, some 

 3 or 4 inches higher than the surrounding ground, as it facili- 

 tates drainage, places the plants in a more decided position and less 

 liable to injury through cultivation. 



The distance between the plants in the row and the width of the 

 rows is governed by the kind of tobacco planted and the use to 

 which the finished leaf is to be put, whether wrapper or filler. 



Planted close in the row and the rows near each other, the 

 tobacco grows tall, with short, narrow, thin leaves, of a poor 

 body, because they do not get enough sunshine to properly ripen. 

 On the other hand, plants set far apart in the row and a greater 

 distance between the rows, giving more room for the plant to 

 expand, produce the other extreme, a long, wide, thick leaf of 

 heavy body, coarse veins and a woodiness in the cured leaf that 

 is undesirable. 



No cigar tobacco should be set less than 15 inches apart in the 

 row, and not less than 3 feet between the rows. Room to culti- 

 vate must be left so that the laborers will not break and tear the 

 ieaves when working between the rows. But the right distance 

 to plant must be determined by each planter to suit the type of 

 tobacco grown and the character of the soil. 



In Hamakua, the average cigar tobaccos, such as the Cuban, 

 Sumatra, Connecticut seed leaf and Zimmer Spanish, do well 15 

 inches in the row and 3 feet 5 inches between rows. An acre, 

 set at this distance, contains about 10,000 plants. 



The manufacturing tobaccos producing a larger leaf require 



