Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-04-05
Farm AND ORCHARD.
TIE TOBACCO PLANT WILL THRIVE
IN CALIFORNIA.
ing Use of Celery-Farm Notes that
are Full of Interest.

Mrs. E. P Duden, of Lake House, one of
! the best contributors to the Farm and
Orchard Department of the RECORD UNION,
writes as follows in regard to spring work
in the poultry yard:
sThe reign Of winter seems to be over at
last, and spring, lovely spring, with her
| faithful attendants of birds and flowers, is
here. But we country people have but
| little time just now to admire the beauties
of spring. The heavy rains of the past
winter makes spring work very late, and it
| looks as if everything will have to be done
at once. The strawberry vines are almost
| lost sight of among the weeds, while the
grower is impatiently waiting for the
ground to dry sufficiently to work them
Some few farmers are plowing their
! orchards, but on most of the ranches in this
! vicinity the ground is still wet
This is the busy season for the poultry
man also. He must not only attend to
/ the setting of hens, perhaps looking after
incubators and little chicks that are al
ready hatched but hen.houses and wards
are to be cleaned, and whitewash, coal-oil
and carbolic acid must be freely used, that
/ Il
! Now that Mrs. Biddy is thinking of as
| suming the cares of maternity, and when
her intentions are made manifest, care
must be taken to provide her with ccm-
Portable nest in a secluded place. where
she will not be disturbed by other fowls;
and if the setting hens can have the run
of small yard, so much the better. / be-
lieve it has often been said that any lady
can set hen, but / have learned from ex-
perience that it is quite a nice piece of
work to manage hen so as to make her
set Just when you desire The first thing
in order is to prepare clean, comfortable
nest, for which purpose nothing is better
than barrel. 1t is roomy, and q hen can
get into it without having to jump down
on the eggs, so avoiding the danger of
breaking them. After the hen has sat on
the nest in which she has been laying for
day or two she should be carefully moved
! at night and placed on the new nest, in
which should be placed three or four
dummy eggs. If after day or two she
takes kindly to the new situation, it is
safe to put under her the eggs on which
she is to sit. If the weather is at all
warm it will be well to sprinkle buhach in
the nest and through the hens feathers.
In dry weather sprinkling the eggs with
warm water two or three times during in
cuhation, particularly the last week, will
| aid the Matching process. After the
chicks are hatched, the hen should be
moved to clean coop, the old straw
| burned, and the nest thoroughly fumi-
! gated before being used again.
"a description of a nice little coop for
| hen and little chicks which | am using
this spring, may be of interest to poultry
raisers. 1t is simply box about two and
a half feet square, about two feet high in
front by one inthe back. 1t is perfectly
tight except the slat front, which permits
the little chicks to run in and out, and
sliding door ON one side for the hen, which
| is kept closed if necessary. There is a
board floor, but that is separate from the
coop for convenience in cleaning In
front is door hung on hinges at the top.
In the daytime it can be fastened clear up
with hook or set at any angle, as a pro-
| lection against sun and rain. At night it
is let down over the front of the coop, and
neither rain, wind, cats or rats can disturb
the slumbers of the mother hen and her
little chicks"
TOBACCO CURING.
A number of inquiries have been made
regarding the curing of tobacco. This
plant will thrive in every part of Caifor-
MIA, and in some portions of the State an
extra fine quality of tobacco can be pro-
| duced. So far, nearly all attempts at cur
ing the leaves have been total or partial
failures. The following methods are in
i use in the tobacco districts of MARYLAND,
and, if not serving as an exact guide, will
| give basis upon which to experiment.
| Before the tobacco is ripe for cutting, a
few of the lower leaves of each plant be-
come brown and are stripped off. These
F! are often soiled and of inferior quality
| and are used at home or sold at low prices.
| Tobacco plants should not be cut before
they are ripe, even if the field has to be
! gone over twice; but they should never
be allowed to be injured by frost When
/, ripe, the leaves instead of being of uni
| form green color will have changed to
| yeilowish mottled color, with granulated
| appearance on the surface. Tobacco is
never cut when damp or wet, as the water
at that time injuriously affects its color in
drying. The plants are cut off a couple
of inches below the leaves with knives.
| Through the stalk there is thrust hollow
spear and the plant is then forced down
on a stick about an inch or an inch and
one-half in diameter Six or seven stalks
are forced on each stick These sticks are
! then conveyed to large barns, in which
has been erected a system of scatfolding,
and the tobacco is suspended in the air by
placing each end of the stick upon the
scaffolding. In this way the whole barn
f, is filled with the suspended tobacco. In
,,la ha e.,o IL IL
top of the barn and each lower row is
| placed at intermediate distances, so that
the air has free circulation.
! Another method which is sometimes
used is to tie two stalks together and bal
ance them over the sticks. While another
method, which can be used on small
scale, is the driving of short pegs through
the butt of the stalks and suspending the
plants by resting the peg on two parallel
sticks. But these methods are not neces-
sary to the proper curing of tobacco, it be-
Ing obvious that any method which may
be adopted for suspending the plants with
out their interfering with each other is
sufficient. The barns are not close. bat
tened buildings, but are open and airy.
No method of curing will make good to-
bacco, unless it is in the first place of good
variety and is ripe when cut If it is harv-
ested before it is ripe there will be an inn
mature taste which no method of manipu-
lation can rectify. The after handling of
the tobacco is of great Importance When
taken down from the scatfolding, the at
mosphere should be sufficiently moist so
that the leaves will not crack or break.
Tue leaves are stripped from the stalks
and are graded according to size and color.
These are tied up in bands and are then
packed in large hogsheads, the tips of the
leaves always being pointed to the center.
These hogsheads are marked and sent to
market. If any sign of heat or molding is
shown, the bands must be at once aired, or
they may be ruined beyond usefulness.
Persons who are not familiar with tobacco