The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-02-16
HOW TO GROW FINE TOBACCO
A Man Of Experience Writes Interest
iIgly on the Subject.
EXPERIMENT STATIONS DOING GOOD.
Mr.. HERSHEY Says Farmers Raise or Try
TO Raise Entirely too Much Of the
Weed-His Advice is to Raise a
Small Amount and Make That

Af, HERSHEY says Farmers Raise or Try
TO Raise Entirely too Much Of the
Weed-His Advice is to Raise a
Small Amount and Make That
Good-About Fertilizers.
E. X. Hershey, in the Lancaster New
Era, thus speaks on the subject of to-
bacco culture:
The cause of the deterioration of the
tobacco is deficient nutrition. My
experience, covering period of ten
years, since 1892, shows me conclusive
ly that we do not return to the soil
the elements which are necessary to
grow a good crop of leaf in the right
proportions, by our system of manur-
ing.
Barn yard manure is considered the
''acmy" and is the manure for the
farm crops generally raised But L
do not consider tobacco farm crop
in the sense we apply to corn, wheat,
NC, but 1t is rather garden or nur-
SerY crop, for it wants To be coddled
and nurscd from the plant bed to the
warehouse, and it needs quitca differ
ent manure from grain crops, as it is
the leaf we are after and not the
grain. Chemistry has 1aided the far
mer wonderfully on the manure ques-
tion, and our agricultural experiment
stations are doing much good They
have found that the tobacco plant is a
great potash consumer and that our
barnyard manure docs not contain a
sufficient quantity of that element
available the first year it is applied to
supply its needs. 1t Will be observed
that all new lands whose virgin soils
have not been exhausted by cropping
| will invariably produce the finest to-
baccos. What. then, is the remedy?
| found that if on the heaviest ma
! nured ground [ wish to grow tobacco
| that Will color well, burn we'll and
! cure well, | must supplement the barn
! yard manure with some chemistry ma
nurc to bring the required result.
/ have tested several different
! brands of chemical manure, besides
nitrate soda, kainit potassium, sui
! phate, etc, rand | find some brands
were a positive injury to the tobacco.
! Thus it would be the height of folly
! to advocate a special brand for gener-
! al use. but it would be safe TO advo-
cate any baand that analyses ten to
! twelve per cent. potash c(sulphate
form.
Last year [ applied soda nitrate at
the rate of 400 pounds per acre with
very good results, giving good growth
and splendid color But the wet sea-
! son, perhaps, was favorable. Il think
we should also change our mode of APP
| plying on stable manure. sThe life of
the tobacco plant is too short to re-
ceiye the full benefit of it as in ten or
! twelve weeks the growth Of the plant
| is finished and manure applied in
spring is not yet decompOsed
| am not prepared to show by eXpe-
rience, but it looks reasonable, that
we ought to apply a heavy coat of ma
i VNl1 Fl,
plement with chemical manure for to-
bacco the following year. i am more
forcibly convinced every year that our
best way to grow tobacco to perfection
is to select some suitable field and the
best on the farm at that and keep
that for tobacco and nothing else, and
manure heavily. | have a lot of one
and a half acres which was in tobacco
the seventh successive year and this
years crop shows finer than any pre-
vious one. Witness the crops grown
on lots in Washington borough, for
instance, which was grown on the
same ground every year. Few sections
of the country produce heavier or finer
crops, some Of which was sold at 30
cents per pound last year.
As to shedding, / think we have
made advances since 1880 in building
our sheds, but not in curing quality
4 plain, well ventilated shed, not over
24 feet wide, with earthen floor is in
! my experience better than a shed with
a cellar under and board floor and
; think we putientirely too much money
in the buildings. Do we handle ouI
crops better? is easily answered in the
. negative, for most emphatically we dc
= not. True, there are some exceptions
but they are few and far between
We raise or try to raise entirely too
much tobacco. Three to four acres il
nothing unusual for one man to put
q out, making it impossible for him tC
handle it carefully.