The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-02-14
TOBACCO PLANTS.
HOW T0PREPARE THE BED AND
GROW THEM.
Some Valuable Hints for New Begin
ners in Tobacco CuIturc-A Plentiful
Supply OF Strong Healthy Plants
Essential to SuCCess-Method by
Which They May be Had.

Essential to Success-Method by
Which They May be Had.
To the planter an early and abun-
daht supply of tobacco plants is the
thing ofprime Importance. To secure
this the seed may be sown at any time
between the 18th of December and
the 18th of March, the earlier the
be ter, and alloting 100 square yards
of seed bed to every 1000 plants that
will be needed. The ground selected
Tor the purpose should be virgin soil,
OF sandy texture, rich and moist, with
full exposure to the sun, but sheltered
to the north and west by rising ground
or growing timber, against the cold
winds of early spring. Such spots can
be readily found in wooded hollows,
at the foot Of hills, and near to or
alongside some water course. Olher
things being equal, the farther into the
woods the spot selected is the better
ID order to escape the potato bug.
BURNING THE PLANT BED.
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 at a single blast,
if done with dry brush, heaped upon
the entire bed height of some four
feet. A better but Costler method is
to burn with wood laid upon green
poles, which serves the purpose of
ventilation, IN case the wood should
be piled the whole length Of the bed,
and at convenient width, say six feet,
and after the pile has been we'll
kndled, it should be allowed to burn
some two hours, or until the poles
underneath are burnt up. The burning
wood and fire Goals should now be
moved by using old hoes fastened
upon long handles, and again spread
at convenient width and fresh wood
added, which should burn until the
ground underneath has been burnt as
thoroughly as before, and so on until
the entire bed has 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 be-
ing taken not to invert the soil, and
then chopped with wedding hoe and
raked until clean of roots and well
pulverized-for which reason land
should never be burnt when too wet.
SOWING THE SEED.
The bed is now ready for seeding
The variety of seed recommended is
Yellow Orinoco. The quantity sown
should be one and half table spoon
iuls to every 100 square yards, and in
That exact proportion for each fraction
or multiple thereof. Great care
should be taken to SOW the seed as
regularly as possible, so as to prevent
some spots from being too thin, and,
what Is worse. other spots from beng
too thick. 10 do 50 the seed should
he carefully measured and then thor
oughly mixed in convenient quantity
OF dry ashes, and the mixture divided
into two equal parts. The bed should
be marked off into convenient sowing
breadths by lines four feet apart, and
sOwed entirely over with one halt the
seed and IN one direction, and then
over again with the other half and in |
the opposite direction, The sOwer re
tracing his steps. The seed should be
LETT upon the surface and neither hocd |
nor raked into the soil, hut trodden in |
with The foot, or pressed in with the |
back Of wedding hoe, or better still |
by pressing light roller over the bed. |
|" prevent drifting or pudding of the
seed by washing rains, where the |
ground is rolling, trenches slightly in
cIlncd and two inches deep, and four
teet apart should be made with the
nattock across the bed. Where the |
ground IS fiat and subject to being
so5bed, ltshould be thoroughly drained |
As nothing draws more easily than the
tobacco plant.
For TIE three fold purpose of warmth,
molslure and fertility. the bed should |
now be top dressed with covering
hali-InCh thick Of good stable manure
broken fine, the tresher the better. but
IN any case free of grass seed. When |
such stable manure is not convenient, !
then from the hen house or hog yen /
VIII answer, hog hair also making an
excellent top dressing. If neither of
these are al hand, some strongly aul-
moniaized fertilizer should be applied
al the rate of half bushel cf it to every
Ioo square yards. aud raked into the
soil before seeding. The bed should
be thiCkly covered with fine brush to
prevent both drying and freezing of
the soil, By which the plants are either
checked in their growth or lifted or,
by the roots.
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