The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-01-23

BY Capt. r. B. Davis, of Hickory. n. C.]
PREPARATION AND CARE OF PLANT BEDS.
To the planter an early and abun-
dant supply of tobacco plants is the
thing of prime importance. TO Sc
cure this the seed may be sown at any
time between the 18th OF December
and the 18th of March, the earlier the
better, and alloting 100 square yards
of seed bed to every 10, 900 plants that
will be needed. The ground selected
for this purpose should be virgin soil,
of sandy texture, rich and moist, with
full exposure to the sun, but shelted to
the North and West by rising ground
or growing timber, against the cold
wind of early spring. Such spots can
be readily found in wooded hollows,
at the foot of hills, and near to or
along side some water course. Other
things being equal, the farther into the
woods the spot selected is the better
in order TO escape the bug.
The ground having been we'll chosen,
the next thing is to rake it cleanly
and then burn it thoroughly SO as to
kill all germs of vegetation. The
burning can be done at a single blast,
ii done with dry brush, heaped upon
the entire bed height of some four
feet. A better but costlier method is
to burn with wood laid upon green
poles, which serve the purpose Of VEN
tilation, which case the wood should
be piled the whole length of the bed,
and of convenient width, say six feet,
and after the pile has been we'll kim
died, it should be allowed to burn
some two hours, or until the poles un-
derneath are burnt up. The burning
wood and fire Goals should now be
moved by using old hoes fastened upon
long'handles, and again spread con-
venient width and fresh wood added,
which should burn until the ground
| underneath has been burt as thorough
| ly as before, and SO on until the entire
bed has been burnt over. So soon as
the ground has cooled enough to walk
upon it, and without removing the
ashes, it should be broken deeply and
finely with the mattock, care being
taken not to invert the soil, and then
chopped with wedding hoes and raked
until clear Of roots and we'll pulver-
ized-for which reason land should
never be burnt when too wet.
The bed is now ready for seeding.
The variety of seed recommended is
Yellow Orinoco. The quality sown
should be one and half tablespoon
fuls to every 100 square yards. Great
care should be taken to SOW the seed
as regularly as possible, so as to pre-
vent some spots from being too thin,
and what is worse, other spots from
being too thick. To do so the seed
should be carefully measured and then
thoroughly mixed in a convenient
vuantity OF dry ashes, and the mixture
divided into two equal parts. The
bed should be marked off into con-
venient sowing breadths by lines four
feet apart, and sowed entirely over
with ne-half the seed in one direction,
and then over again with the othe half
in the opposite direction, the sower re-
tracing his steps. The seed should be
left upon the surface and neither hoed
nor raked into the soil, but trodden in
with the foot, or pressed in with the
! back of wedding hoe, or better still,
by passing light roller over the bed.
10 prevent drifting or pudding of the
seed by washing rains, where the
geound is rolling, trenches slightly in
clined and two inches deep and fonr
feet apart should be made with the
mattock across the bed. Where the
ground is fiat and subject to being Sob
bed, it should be thoroughly drained,
as nothing browns more easily than
the tobacco plant.
For the three fold purpose of warmth,
moisture and fertility. the bed should
now be top dressed with covering
half an inch thick of good stable ma
nure broken fine, the fresher the better,
but in any case free Of grass-seed.
When such stable manure is not con-
venient, that from the hen house or