The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-08-06
CULTURE OF TOBACCO.

prefer printing just before the last
hilling or blowing; later In the season,
as the plant begins to mature, the un-
der leaves will decay and dry up. This
is caused by either wet or dry weather,
and some times by the flea bug, When
this is the case, nothing is gained by
printing, as the bugs will attack and
suck the next lower leaves. In case of
beating rains the prunings or lower
leaves, if left on the plant, prevents
the mud and sand from splashing on
the plant At cutting, the primings
may be left on the stump if one does
not wish to save them. However, most
farmers save every leaf that has a
speck of green upon it, thus augment
ing the low grade tobaccos, with a
loss on the better grades. 1t would be
far better for the farmer to leave the
primings and trash in the field to en-
rich the oil.
I5 requires some practice and expe-
rience to properly top tobacco, but
some aid may be given by we'll timed
advice and suggestions from those who
have been raising it for a lifetime.
Formerly tobacco wa topped odd, that
is 5, z, 9, II leaves high, according to
the length of the season the plant had
to mature; but just why it was so
topped / do not know. Tobacco is a
diptote, the leaves grow in pairs, and
if the leaf on the opposite side of the
stalk at the top is broken off the re
manning leaf will not attain its full
size. Formerly tobacco was primed
off even at the bottom and the odd leaf
left at the top. AS yet little topping
is done in Alamance, Cas- well and
Orange. The crop is uneven on the
hill. This results from bad seasons for
setting and the depre dations of cut
worms. When this is the case, the
plants that lived at the first setting
come in top long before the re plants,
and it is common when there is not
enough plants for barn or curing to
let it alone till it blooms out and the
stalk becomes hard; this is erroneous.
The plant should be topped when it
fairly shows the button, by just pinch
ing out the coming bloom; then when
the other plants com9 in, if topped too
high, two or four leaves may be broken
off from the top. The extremes of top.
ping are too high or too low. At the
very outset one should take into con-
sideration the strength of his soil, the
length of time the plant has to grow
and the quality of tobacco he wishes to
raise, for the lower it is topped the
sooner will it ripen and the heavier the
grade Of tobacco. Hence to raise
heavy tobacco, such 6s is commonly
used for plug stock, top low. If you
wish to raise smokers and fine wrap
pers, top high. For plug from 8 to 10
leaves, for finer grades from 10 to 16
leaves high. Like all other plants or
things in nature, some plants Of to
bacco will grow larger than others and
should be topped accordingly. The in
experienced may ask how he is to know
whether a plant will grow large or
small will say to such, If the plant
has small round stalk, much of the
same size from the ground up, with
leaves uniform in size, the plant at ma
turity will be small. On the other
hand, if the stalk is larger few inches
from the ground than at it, and then
slopes up like ones torefnger, and has
large strong leaves at or near the
ground, it is blocked out for large
plant. Experienced growers of the
weed seldom count the leaves, but top
according as they think the plant will
make. However, person is liable to
top too low in dry weather and too
high in wet weather, for when it is very
seasonable the plant is vigorous and
fourishing; then, should dry weather
set in and one finds his tobacco topped
too high, better go over the patch and
take out two to four more leaves. II
the weather is very dry, better go over
J the patch or field and pinch out the
button and wait for the plant to develop
!. than to make the mistake of topping
= too low; then if it sets in seasonable
}. top over the second time.
l. Tobacco, when properly topped and
the plant natures, has it's top leaves
% the same size as the second GROUND
20 leaves; when topped too low the toy
20 leaves will be larger than the mex
g lower leaves; if properly topped they
n will be smaller.
as Those wishing to top with givel
d number of the plant, can readily learl
y to do it by observing that the Srd, 9th
- OSh 1okN 1oa~xoo hon,