The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1863-05-02
FARMERS DEPARTMENT.
s''@ p Tobacco culture.

Aa"Ience JouIndl' II Was furnished thaL
paper by john Wilder, Esq, one of the old
esttobaceo growers in The country. Mr..
Wilder is Kansas man. and has had expe-
rience in tobacco raising here; thus his
communication is the more valuable:
SOWING THR sEED-rIME AND MANNER.
Shade and pulverize your ground for
bed with as much care as you would for an
onion bed; having it completely saturated
with manure; hog manure is best, but, if
you cannot get that, any fine manure will
answer Select a warm, sunny place, on
the south side of building or blind fence.
Sow as soon as the ground is dry enough
to work in the spring. Sow about an ounce
and half of seed to the square rod, broad
cast. To cover the seed, take plank, and
laying it across the bed, move it gently
endwise and then step on it, and with a
4-by-4 scantling about five or six feet long,
or something about the same weight, settle
the ground down quite solid or firm, and
so on over the whole bed; this prevents the
soil from drying up, and the seed vegetables
sooner think covering with wet stall
bedding or straw, is good plan, and then
remove the straw.
AS soon as the plants are large enough so
commence pulling the weeds. The plants
when they first come up have two leaves,
very small and a little pointed; then two
more make their appearance, one on each
side of the stalk, close to the ground, and
may be known by their being of round
shape, and bright silvery green. Ii is Of
the greatest importance that the weeds should
be pulled as soon as they can be distin-
guished from the plants.
FITTING OF THE GROUND.
A strong loan or gravely soil 1 think is
best adapted to tobacco, (highly mapured. }
Have it thoroughly pulverized if you wish
to work both ways; set about three feet both
ways; if only one way, mark about three
feet, and hill little with hoe, raising the
face of the hill a little higher than the sur
rounding surface, the hills about two and
half feet apart. Set just before or soon after
rain, similar to setting a cabbage plant;
make hole with the finger deep enough
and large enough to allow the tap-root to go
straight down, pressing the dirt moderately
against the side of the hole next to you; do
not press and squeeze the roots so much as
to break the small fbers or roots. The
plants should be set when the leaves are Of
, the size OF haf-dolar or little larger, be-
fore they begin to run up. Keep them free
from weeds by hoeing until the plants are
large enough to shade the ground; the pro-
cess of hoeing is similar to that of hoeing
cabbage. If the first setting, or any part of
il should fail, you must set as soon as
you find they have failed; you can determine
this by looking at the heart of the plant-if
that is alive, the first leaves are of but little
consequence.
Now, when the crop gets about siA inches
high, its growth is very rapid, and the stalk
begins to run up and bud, and soon would
blossom; the plants should be allowed to
come as near poisoning as possible and
not blossom, when the top Of the stalk should
be broken or cut off, leaving from twelve
to sixteen leaves on the stalk TO grow. In
a few days, Nature will send out sucker at
the point where the top leaves come from the
stalk; these must be broken off as soon as
they are two to four inches long; they will
make their appearance at the junction of
each leaf with the stalk. The plant must
be kept free from these suckers, and when
the suckers come out at the bottom, the
plant is generally considered fit to cut or
harveet.
HARVESTING.
To harvest you want a small AK or hatchet.
Take hold of the top of the stalk with the
left hand and pull it toward you, at the same
time strike the stalk with the Ratchet, close
to the ground, below all the leaves. Take
two rows at a time, laying the butts all one
way, toward you, and then two or more
with the butts the other way, or toward the
butts Of the other two rows, and far enough
to allow team to pass between the two rows
of butts. Handle very carefully, SO as not
to break the leaves, or make holes in them.
Let them remain in rows until they are suf-
fcienuy wilted, so that the leaves will bend
down-to the stalk without breaking. You
can now draw to the barn and hang it up.
You must be very vigilant in willing your
tobacco, and see that the leaves do not burn
or crisp in the hot sun, which it will some
times do before it is sufficiently wilted. In
such case, you can turn it over carefully.
1fyou burn or crisp your tobacco, it sPoils
the leaves.
CURING.
To cure tobacco, you must hang it in a
barn, free from exposure to the sun, on rails
or poles. Hang up by the butts, with Irvine.
Commencing at one end of the pole, fasten
the end of the Irvine; then take plant and
wind once around, holding tight-te the
Irvine; then another plant on the opposite
side, and wind once around, and so on until
you get to the other end of the pole. Be
careful not to hang too thick on the pole, or
have the poles too near together, but have
1t SO that you can see daylight up through
the plants; after they have hung few days,
and gel so they hang down. Let them hang
until they are perfectly dry, which will take
from four TO eight weeks, and then, when
the atmosphere is damp enough from rain
to make the tobacco soft, so that the leaves