1883.] 
AMERIC MB AGRIC ULTURifT. 
167 
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grain to straw varies with the method of applica¬ 
tion. The weight in this trial of plot two was in¬ 
creased by the fuller growth of weeds that started 
while the oats were striking root in the manure ; 
for it should be added, that when the manure is 
applied to the surface, the crop takes a little better 
start. This same year, also, plots of corn were 
started, with results, noted in my last, in total 
amount slightly in favor of the surface application. 
Subsequent results with these corn plots have fa¬ 
vored the other plan. Returning to the first series, 
again, I find that the surface-applied gave for 1880, 
3,657 lbs. per acre, while the other gave 3,379 lbs.; 
for 1881, the first gave 2,603 lbs., and the second 
gave 2,739 lbs. For the entire period, there is but 
little difference in the result, with the final crop in 
favor of plowing under. In the second series, I 
got, in round numbers, 3 tons per acre for each of 
■the three following years, receiving 560 lbs. more 
hay when the manure was plowed under. The crop 
•of 1880 where the manure was plowed under, was 
the heavier, but this was reversed in subsequent 
jears, the crop of 1881 being 5,900 lbs. to 6,000 lbs., 
•the latter for the plowed-under manure. I should 
state that in this series the manure was not laid 
•completely at the bottom of the furrow, as the 
ground had been before plowed and would not en¬ 
tirely invert. In the third series, the manure was 
applied annually, and thus, as in field practice, the 
manure remaining over was plowed up again, and 
thoroughly incorporated with the soil. By all these 
practices, plowing under the manure has given an 
-answer for three crops against surface dressing. 
Tobacco Culture in Virginia. 
BY C. N. BERKELEY, AMELIA CO., VA. 
The “ Old Virgiuia Leaf ” has probably seen its 
best days. Whatever were the means by which 
the staple attained its great reputation, the planters 
have not troubled themselves to sustain it. For¬ 
merly, the facility of raising tobacco through the 
double advantage of rich soil and cheap labor, with 
the profit of ready sale, induced all who could to 
plant as large a surface of the crop as was possible. 
Complaints, however, as to quality began to be 
heard sometime before the war, but were unheeded, 
and now, while the demaud continues steady, the 
increased cost of producing the weed, and the de¬ 
cline in prices, have borne heavily on the farmers, 
.and their favorite crop is fast losing its place as a 
paying product. 
To secure a crop of tobacco, two things must be 
-assured : a full plant-bed, and a full planting. The 
bed is a spot in the woods, with a southern ex¬ 
posure, cleared off to the required number of square 
yards, which varies from 500 to 2,000. Great care 
is necessary in the preparation, the first part of 
which is the burning. This is done to kill all grass¬ 
roots, and seeds of weeds, that they may not grow’ 
with the plants. Parallel rows of poles (skid6) arc 
laid, four feet apart, extending the length of the 
bed; across these is built a good-sized ridge of 
wood, reaching from side to side, then fired along 
its whole extent. After burning until the coals and 
ashes have covered the ground underneath, the 
fuel is pulled over upon a fresh strip of ground, 
the process being repeated until the bed is burned 
all over. A powerful breaking-plow is used to tear 
up the plat, followed by grubbing hoes and rakes, 
kept going until the charred, stumpy area is turned 
into a nice soft bed of uniform fineness. It is 
necessary to put strong manure on the bed to make 
good plants. The seed is then sown, mixed with 
dry ashes, at the rate of a gill to the 100 yards, and 
put in by a brush, a small-tooth rake, or by stamp¬ 
ing. Plenty of brush must be put on the bed to 
protect the young plants from late frosts. Having- 
manured bis land, the farmer makes lists (throwing 
three furrows in one), and cuts them into hills. The 
best planting time is from the middle of May to 
•July ; after this, the cut-worm and heat destroy all 
replanting. After a rain, the plants are drawn 
from the bed, and dropped by one person for two 
others, who make a hole in the hill, insert the root, 
und press the earth close. The working of the crop 
Is the same as with corn. When the tobacco is high 
enough to have ten leaves, after pruning, the bud is 
taken out, to prevent seeding, and the plaut grows 
broader and heavier, but no taller. With the second 
week in August comes the fly, which fastens its 
white eggs upon the underside of the leaf, from 
which the worms hatch by hundreds. Uneeasingat- 
tention for three or four weeks is imperative, to keep 
down worms and suckers, or they will destroy the 
crop. Cutting is begun about the middle of Sep¬ 
tember. The plants are split from the top to within 
six inches of the root, severed, and turned bottom 
up to “fall,” after which they are collected in 
piles of about a dozen each, and hung by the splits 
on sticks riven for the purpose. Some farmers cure 
tobacco on scaffolds in the field, but the rule is to 
house and fire at once. When the stems are dry 
enough to crack, the curing is done, and some 
damp day is chosen, when the tobacco is “in 
order,” to “strike ” and “bulk ” it. Stripping is 
done during winter. 
Deep Plowing: Useful and Injurious. 
BY ORANGE JUDD. 
One intelligent, practical farmer will tell you his 
experience has shown conclusively that deep cul¬ 
ture of the sbil is important and highly profitable. 
Another, of equal intelligence and experience, will 
assert that he positively knows deep plowing to 
be very injurious. Both may be right. The agri¬ 
cultural journals have abounded in such statements 
during thirty years past. An examination of the 
why and wherefore will afford a useful lesson. 
How do plants get the materials that increase 
their bulk ? Mainly from the air. A loam made 
up almost wholly of sand and clay, after growing- 
two or three tons per acre of clover, for example, 
will contain more vegetable or organic matter than 
before bearing the crop. The leaves have upon 
their surface a vast number of very small mouths 
or openings, often over a hundred thousand upon 
a single square inch, as shown by the microscope. 
Through these carbonic acid and other gases are 
absorbed and decomposed, part being retained as 
plant food. Remove the leaves from any plant, 
and it ceases to grow. The fine rootlets and root 
hairs doubtless absorb a little food from fertilizers 
and organic matter in the soil, especially nitrogen 
and the minerals of the ashes. 
Without discussing the question how much 
comes from each source, we know that the sap 
conveys the food both from leaves and roots, 
aud deposits it here and there and everywhere 
through the plant—just as the blood gathers ma¬ 
terials from the digested food passing through the 
alimentary canal of our bodies, and deposits the 
atoms that nourish and strengthen the muscles, 
nerves, bones, and all other organs. The sap is to 
the plant what the blood is to the body. This sap 
comes mainly from moisture in the soil. 
The sun’s warmth greatly assists the prepara¬ 
tion of the food material collected by the leaves, 
adapting it for plant nourishment. We speak of 
warm “ growing weather.” But while the hot sun 
rapidly increases the preparation of plant food, it 
dries off the sap faster from the leaves, and also 
the moisture from the surface soil, so that the 
roots can not get a full supply. In both these 
ways the sap—the life blood of the plant—is di¬ 
minished, and for want of this the food distribu¬ 
tion or growth is lessened, and frequently is 
stopped altogether. The leaves curl, the plants 
droop, often dying out after a few hot days. This 
is especially the case on shallow soils, and on 
prairie land which, by reason of its dark color, ab¬ 
sorbs more of the sun’s heat than those of lighter 
color. Owing to the loose texture of such soils 
they bring up moisture from below much less 
rapidly than fine, compact loams aud clays. 
Is it not plain then, that if a soil is plowed deep 
and made fine, so that air will penetrate deeply, 
and the plant roots be thus invited well below the 
surface, out of the sun’s reach eveu m a drouth, 
which seldom dries more than two to four inches 
deep, the plants having such roots will be always 
supplied with the needed sap, and the growth will 
proceed rapidly even in the dryest days. Hence, 
as a rule, deep plowing and working of the soil arc 
highly advantageous. 
But not always. The porous prairie soils are 
usually in fair condition a foot deep or more ; the 
air has circulated through them, destroying dele¬ 
terious acids, poisonous salts, etc. On heavier soils, 
so compact that the air has never circulated below 
the immediate surface, the subsoil may be actually 
filled with poisonous substances. We know that 
earth brought up in digging wells and deep ditches 
will seldom support vegetable life, for a year or two 
at least. To run a plow down into such a soil 
three or four inches below the previously stirred 
surface, and turn up a heavy layer of it, may actu¬ 
ally kill the first crop sown or planted. 
The right way, with such soils, is to go down an 
inch or two annually, and bring up a little new soil 
each time, but not enough to materially harm the 
growing crops. In this way we may in time secure 
a healthful, porous, aerated, deep plant bed, that 
will furnish abundant moisture in the hottest sea¬ 
son, besides providing new supplies of inorganic 
food needed for the best growth of crops. 
Bee Motes for April. 
Although bees should be set on the summer 
stands in April, even in the more northern regions, 
still they should be closely covered with warm 
packing. For two years we have put into our cel¬ 
lar chaff hives and hives with single walls, all con¬ 
taining bees. These were set out at the same time. 
The bees in single hives were closely covered with 
a sack containing fine sawdust. This was so long 
that it not only covered the hives, but reached over 
at-each eud, and hugged the division boards that 
confined the brood chamber. So far as we could 
discover, the bees in these hives suffered no worse 
from “spring dwindling” than did those kept in 
chaff hives. If future experience sustains this 
point, then the argument that chaff hives are de¬ 
sirable, because they are safer in spring, is of no 
importance. The past severe winter will enlighten 
us on this subject. We shall be mistaken if it does 
not raise cellar wintering to a premium. Such long 
confinement, with severe cold, is very hard on bees. 
If chaff hives prove equal to the situation this 
winter, then their value is assured. 
Coinb Foundation. 
No discovery, if we except the Langstroth hive 
and the Extractor, has done so much to advance 
apiculture as that of comb foundation. No one 
should think of doing without foundation in the 
brood chamber. We advise the use of wired 
frames. Then the cells will not be enlarged by 
sagging, the foundation will not fall from the 
frames, it will not warp and bend, and the frames 
of comb will be secure and safe to ship. Good 
foundation must have very thin bases to the cells, 
and high walls, the wax of which shall not be much 
compressed. Such foundation is made by the roller 
machines. Foundation is also very valuable for 
sections, for which we would use seven feet to the 
pound, and only worker size. If one has less than 
one hundred colonies of bees, it will hardly pay 
him to purchase a mill- unless he desires to manu¬ 
facture foundation to sell. 
Statistics. 
At the last meeting of the North American Asso¬ 
ciation, a committee was appointed to gather 
statistics. It is believed that full statistics as to 
the number of colonies of bees in the country and 
the product from them will surprise everybody, 
and lead apiculture to be better appreciated as 
one of tbe important industries of the country. 
Early in the present session the New York 
Legislature passed a bill which forbids tbe sale by 
the State of 660,000 acres of land owned by it in 
the Adirondacks. Great inroads have recently 
been made upon this wooded region, in 6pite of 
the fact that the preservation of the forests there 
is believed to be essential to the supply of water 
to the Hudson River. The project of reserving the 
State property in the Adirondacks as a State Park 
has met with considerable favor among the people. 
