Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1879-03-27
From the Plant Bed to Market.
on TIE CULTIVATION AND CURING OF
FINE YELLOW TOBACCO,
BY MAI. ROBERT l.. RAGLAND.
OF HYCo, HALIFAX CO., VA.

The first work in preparing for E
crop of tobacco is to burn and SOW
in good time a sufficiercy of plant
land in good warm situations tol
early plants. Plats in the forest
sloping south or southeast, are best
In the latitude of Virginia seed
should be sown from the 1st OF
Janusry to the 10th of March-the
sooner the better.
Commercial manures, as they
contain no grass seeds, are better
for plants than manures produced
on the farm.
Make the plant bed thoroughly
fine by repeated choppings and
rakings, and then mix the tobacco
seed, using two tablespoonluls in
from twenty five to thirty pounds
of fertilizer to every one hundred
square yards in the bed, and SOW
the mixture on the surface, then
whip the surface with brush, or
rake over lightly. Tobacco seed,
the smallest of all farm seeds, re-
quire but light covering if cover
ed too deep they never germinate.
Then cover the bed with fine
brush or straw, to protect the youug
plants from frost, and keep the bed
moist. ia. ~
In hot bed, or cold frame, tobacco
plants may be grown large enough
to plant ont in from forty to fifty
days. Sometimes it is necessary
to torce the plants in growth, so
that they may be large enough to
transplant at the proper time. A
quick reliable fertilizer is best for
that purpose, and as it is import
ant that the planter make no mis-
take in his selection, [ recommend
the Anchor Brand Tobacco Ferti-
lizer as top-dro ossing, with caution
to the planter not to apply it when
the plants are wet with rain or dew.
To prevent depredations by the
fly or flea bug, use ground plaster,
III which rags that have been sat
nrated with kerosene oil have lain
for some hours, and cover the plants
with the plaster thus prepared, and
repeat after every rain.
The varieties known AS "YEL-
Low ORoNoKo" and "SILKY PRYOR"
are the kinds best adapted to pro
ducing the finest grades of tobacco.
These varieties have been under
improvement for more than forty
years by continuous selection, cav
ing seed from the crown shoots
only of plants having the finest
fibre and texture, and that ripened
yellow on the hill.
Gray, friable soils, fresh from
the forest, or long out of cultivation,
with dry, porous subsoil, are best
to the growth and inaturi-
ty of yellow tobacco.
Lands capable of producing yell
low tobacco need just such help as
is furnished by good fertilizer, in
fastening the growth, and giving
size, substance, and early maturity
to the plant. From one to three
hundred pounds per acre of the fer
tilizer may be profitably used. Apply
IN the drill, except on new ground,
where this mode is inapplicable,
and broadcasting is best. Plant in
hills, instead OF beds, as early after
the 10th OF May as plants and sea-
sons will admit. Commence culti-
walton as soon as the plants begin
to spread over the hills, whether
grassy or not, and continue to stir
the land with ploughs and hoes till
the tobacco begins to come in top,
using short singletrecs, as the plants
increase in size, to prevent break
ing and bruising. When the plants
are too large to admit the plough,
use only hoes to keep down the
grass aud weeds.
Wait till a considerable number
OF plants begin to button for seed
before you commence to top, then
these will ripen about the same
time. Topping must be doEe ac-I
cording to the appearance and
promise of each plant, strength OF
soil, and time the work is donc.-
First topping for medium tobacco
should be from ten to twelve leaves,
rarely more, priming off 4lower
leaves, neither too high nor too
low, but just high enough, SO that
when the plant ripens, the lower
leaves may be well off the ground.
Continue topping as the plants are
large enough, observing, as the
season advances, to top lower, SO
as to bring in the late plants be-
fore frost. IT
The plough should not be used
later than the first day of August,
as ploughing late keeps the tobacco
green toe long, and may cause it to