The Van Buren press., 1879-08-23
EARLY TOBACCO HARVEST.
We clip the following from the York
{Pcnn Daily under date of July:

MT. w II. l1ake, OIL MaHGHeslcT tuWli-
ship, near Emigssille, cut a large crop
oftobacco, fully matured, on Woduesdad
last This beats Col Duffy, of Marietta,
one day. lancaster county can not beat
York as the above shows
In his and some other southern states,
many of those growing tobacco consider
themselves fortunate if they gottheir crop
off the field before frost bitten. When it
is considered that that the seasons in
Penn svlvania are from four to six weeks
later than they are IN this state, and the
tobacco crop there is harvested from one
to three months earlier than it is in other
states having earlier seasons, it would
seem that our farmers are not fully post
cd how to grow tobacco.
To have plants early is what is wanted
to set them our early, and as many are
interested in tobacco farming. We re-
publish extracts from treaties on tobac
co culture written by |. w. e. Wierman,
an acknowledged authority on seed leaf
tobacco culture, formerly of York Pa
but now citizen of Saline county. resid
ing at Wierman's Siding on the St. Louis,
Iron Mountain L Southern railway. He
says the seed bed should face the south,
il possible, and have protection from the
north wind. The south side from build
ing is the most desirable. Take in March,
when the condition of the the soil will ad-
nit of its being worked, the bed should
be richly manured with well rotted stable
manure should be spaaed over fully II
inches deep if the soil has that depth
Then corn stocks and brush should be
gathered, and burned over the bed to
destory the seeds in the soil that other
wise would force themselve ahead of the
tabacco plants and bd troublesome How
to SOW seed evenly is delicate operation
The best way to do it is, to mix the seed
with any given quantity of wood ashes
Gypsom or fine dry earth, then scatter
the mixture as uniformly as possible over
the ground prepared as above stated A
tablespoonful. is ample to SOW bed x
10 feet. The bed should not be rakcd af
ter having been seeded, but simply with
board of any width be pressed down by
walking forward and backward over it,
Though the ground WAS burned over, it
is possible that weeds will make their ap
pearence. They should be pulled as soon
as they come up. II plants stand too
thick-more than one to the square inch
the weaker ones, like the weeds, should
be pulled up.
In former article entitled chow tobac-
CO seed may be improved" started some
OF the advantage which an early planted
crop of tobacco has over a late crop.
Since then many inquiries have been
made, by what means person could have
plants sufficiently large to transplants in
May, outside of a greenhouse? From
these inquiries it must be inferred that
the way to do 1t is not generally known
and for that reason it may not be amss
to give, in this connection, the proper
directions.
4 After the seed has been sown an press
cd into the soil as stated. the bed should
be covered over uniformly with hogs hair,
(which should be saved during winter
when butcheriug for this very purpose J
Then twelve inch boards set on edge
should be run Ground the border of the
bed. Over the bed, so surrounded with
boards, covering of caarsest and cheap
est white muslin, fastened on the upper
edge of the broader boards, should be
stretched No Que that has not tried it
has any idea of the degree orwarmth his
muslin cover affords, which causes the
seed to grow rapidly. The cover is also
a protection against frost and cold nights.
Then the plants are well started, the hogs
hair should be raked off, Care must be
observed not to rake up the tobacco
plants, When the soil of the bed gets
dry, it should be sprinkled with water
ing can in the evening. A frequent ap-
plication, in like manner, to the growing
plants, ofliquid chicken manure will cause
them to grow with wonderful rapidly.
The muslin cover will prevent also the
surface of the seed bed from getting sun
baked. However. by the tenth of May
the cover should be removed so that the
plants get used to the sun and get per
icctly hearty. BY the Goth of May, plants
SO treated, will have leaves that could not
be covered with silver half dollar, suf-
ficiently large to transplant A crop plant
cd out carly will grow fine and large,
should no drought set in. 1t must be
borne in mind that seed however early it
may he sown, will not germinate efore
the weather is favorable Should the sea
son be backward, fully the days of time
may be gained by sprouting the seed be-
fore sowing it. The best way to do this
is to tie the seed in a piece of muslin, then
soak in warm water for an hour working
it with the hand to get the seed in the
muslin thoroughly wet, Then make a
batter of garden soil and warm water in
a deep dish, and bury the package of seed
in this batter. Keep it for five or six
days near a stove in q temperature Of
about 70 degrees. AT the end of that
time, take The package Of seed out, open
it, and spread out the seed on newspa-
per. When dry, which will be in the
course of an hour, mix the seed with soil,
ashes or gypsom as above adyisised and
SOW as already directed.
The dates given in his treaties apply to
the climate OF Pennsylvania which is from
four to six weeks later then the climate
OF this part of the State.
n