1 Fes., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. | 115 
less and less common ; and to-day the forest is upon some very steep and rocky 
hill slope. In just these localities you find the “ clearings” for tobacco. The 
trees on the top of the hill were not fit for lumber ; so when the land was cleared. 
they cut a gash about their bases and left them to die that their leaves might 
not shade the tobacco nor their roots use the moisture. When quite a number 
of these “ girdled” trees are left ona “clearing,” it is called a ‘‘ deadening.” 
Near the crest of this hill the rocky character of the ground can be seen. It is 
a great pity that such lands should be cleared, as, even after centuries of forest 
growth, they have not been able to make any depth of soil. When they are 
left after raising a few crops of tobacco, they simply wash away and leave what 
they call “galled” points which can never be reclaimed without a vast outlay 
of money and time. 
Late in the fall and all through the winter months the tenant is busy with 
ax and grubbing hoe clearing the ground for thenext “crap.” Part of the logs 
and underbrush which he hauls off his ‘‘ clearing” are piled in a long narrow 
rectangle, and after it dries he burns it for his “ plant bed.” As the larger logs 
burn slowly they are rolled over the ground, in order that all the weed seed may 
be killed where the tobacco seed are to be sown. After ‘“‘ the burning,” the bed 
is thoroughly worked with hoe and rake until there is not the trace of a clod or 
lump init. Late in February or early in March, the tobacco seed is sown in 
the bed; and small logs or planks are placed about it, and a light piece of cotton 
is tightly stretched over the bed about 6 inches above the ground. In this 
manner the tender young tobacco plants are protected from frosts and the late 
light freezes of early spring. : 
During the early spring months, while the tender plants are growing under 
cover, the tenant is not idle, for his land has to be put into condition for setting 
the plants. He must plough and harrow, and clear off the roots which his 
lough brings to the surface. Late in May or early in June the plants, if they 
aye grown properly, fill kis bed and the cover has been taken off so that they 
may become accustomed to the direct rays of the sun. Everything is now 
ready, and he waits impatiently for rain enough to make a good “ settin’ season.” 
When the longed-for rain has wet the ground, he and the boys hurry to 
the plant beds and pull the largest, strongest plants and pack them in home- 
made bushel baskets. The baskets are carried to the “clearing,” and the plants 
are dropped in rows, while men follow setting them by hand. Often a “season” 
lasts only half-a-day, if the rain has been light, and the tenant must wait until 
another rain makes the ground moist enough for setting again. In this manner 
a crop is often set piecemeal, some parts being two or three weeks in advance 
of others. The same thing often happens when the plants do not grow well, 
and the tenant has to wait for a week at a time for a new lot of plants to grow 
large enough to set. 
Here’s WHERE REAL Work Bears. 
As soon as the plants take good root and begin to grow, the hard, grinding, 
persistent work commences. No weeds must be given any chance at all. The 
plough or double shovel must be going in between the long green rows, that the 
soil may be kept stirred and moist, and the hoe must be used between the 
plants themselves in the rows. When your correspondent went into the field 
to get pictures of the growing fields the tobacco tenant was busy breaking a 
young horse to walk well in the narrow rows of tobacco, so one had to lead him 
while the other guided the double shovel. : 
Use or Cuinp Lazovr. 
The tobacco tenant in growing a crop can use a great amount of child labour, 
as the work in the new ground, although continual, israther light. Children are 
largely used in “worming” tobacco, as, being so much shorter than grown 
men, there is not the tremendous amount of stooping necessary. In this work 
the children are not’kept from school, as most of this work comes in vacation, 
when they are at leisure. arly in the growth of the tobacco the flies begin to 
lay their small green eggs on the bright green leaves. Unless one is accustomed 
