Some Minor Farm Crops. 
159 
2. — At Redfields, Hants. 
Tobacco growing was commenced at Redfields in 1910, and it 
would perhaps be interesting to give here an extract of the soil 
analysis, which was carried out by Dr. Bernard Dyer : — 
The soil as received contained about 5 per cent, of stones 
separable by sifting through a wire sieve having meshes \ in. 
wide. 
The fine soil, when dried, has the following composition : — 
Fine gravel 3 
Coarse sand ......... 42 
Fine sand . . . . . . . . .30 
Coarse “silt” ........ 9 
Fine “silt” . . . ' 9 
“ Clay ” 3 
Carbonate of lime, organic matter, kc. .... 4 
100 
From the analysis it will be seen that the soil is a distinctly 
“light ” soil. However, “ light ” soils are not the only ones on 
which tobacco will grow, and grow well, as experiments have 
been tried on neighbouring farms with soils varying from 
Bagshot sand to heavy clays, and the growth has shown no 
appreciable difference. In each of the four years from 1910 to 
1913 the plants grew most luxuriantly in spite of the enormous 
difference in the weather during these years ; 1910 was very 
wet, 1911 exceptionally dry and very hot, 1912 very wet and 
cold, and 1913 an almost rainless summer. It should not be 
surmised from this that tobacco can be grown profitably every- 
where ; on the whole it likes a mild climate, and situations not 
very high above sea level. 
The preparation of the land is very much the same as for 
cabbages ; after the necessary cultivations, a dressing of farm- 
yard manure — 20 loads to the acre — is applied, and in addition 
to this artificials are required, especially potash. Operations 
begin in March each year, when the tobacco seed is sown in 
seed beds and covered with frames, which will accommodate 
three to four thousand seedlings to each frame. This year 
(1913) 250,000 seedlings were planted out in May at Redfields, 
and 99,000 were sent to growers in various parts of England. 
The seedlings are planted out in rows 2 ft. apart, 3 ft. 
dividing each plant, an acre thus requiring 7,260 plants. Two 
men and a boy should be able to plant 5,000 plants in a day of 
nine hours. Between the time of planting out in May and the 
harvest in August the chief operations are hoeing, “ suckering ” 
(removing side shoots), and “ topping ” (removing the seed 
heads). During this period the tiny plants set out at the end of 
May will have developed by the middle of August into handsome 
