The Newtown bee., 1895-03-08
Live Farm Topics
FROM CENTRAL conHEcT1cur.

E Ae01A OAaN AAA4 COM0GCIkCuT.
 HANGING ToBAcco.--A NOVEL DRYING
 SHE'D.
 s'J. l" asks for information about to- bacco planters, of which made mention In some of my letters. He wishes to know where they may be procured, and sswould like to hear from your cores pondent as to their utility" Any dealer in agricultural implements should be able to say where and how these machines may bs obtained. There are several diff ferent makes of tobacco setters, but the principle is the same in all, and each kind does about the same work in nearly the same way. Their utility is undoubted. The tobacco setter, up to date, is heavy and rather clumsy looking affair, but it is an ingenious mechanical contrivance. It is drawn by two horses, and three per- sons are required to manage it; one to guide the horses, and the others, two men or man and boy, to feed the plants. The machine is regulated to re- sceive and dispose of plants atregular dis tances apart, from Is to 24 inches, ac- cording to the variety of tobacco and the ideas of the grower. The machine as it passes along opens cavity in the ground, drops the roots of the plant into it, and draws the soil around them. At the same time water from barrel carried on the machine is thrown to the bottom of the cavity, where the plant gets the full ben- eft of it. Slow and steady horses are re- quired; fast walkers or nervous animals are quite out of place attached to a to- bacco setter.
 Cabbage and other plants can be set out with as much facility as tobacco plants. The backache and weariness in- cident to the old way are avoided, and transplanting made tolerably easy for the driver and on-lookers, but the feeders can't stop to watch the clouds. The ma- chimes cost some $50, more or less. What is needed is lighter and cheaper imple- ment small tobacco growers could bet ter afford, and that might be easily drawn by single horse. Here in Connecticut most of the large growers now have to- bacco setters. The smaller planters who do not feel disposed to buy mschine, which they would use only day or two in the year, can hire men who own these implements, and make business of transplanting tobacco during the season. With the fields all prepared, they furnis h everything except plants, ,and do the work for $5 an acre, or less. It is worth con- siderab'y more to transplant an acre of ground to Havana than to seedleaf.
 A gentleman in Homer, N. r., sends me some cuts which illustrated a new plan which he has devised for hanging and drying leaf tobacco. As this is 8 subject of much interest wherever leaf tobacco is produced, I will briefly de- scribe the plar. Planks seven inches wide, one and a half to two inches in thickness and IA feet in length are used instead of poles in the sheds. Notches are cut out of the blanks on either edge at alternate distances. Catches of sheet iron are nailed to the blanks over the notches. When tobacco is hung, the stalk near the butt end is slipped into the catch, and is-held in place and prevented from falling out by three sharp points
 With the stalk grasped with both hands it is readily drawn into the catch. When sweep of the arm will remove the stalks from the catches as fast as man need move along the sides of the blanks. The blanks are adjustable as to distance apart, and may be moved into place one by one as they are filled. When not in use they may be packed away in little space, leaving the shed free for other uses if desired. By this plan the plants must all be placed at equal distances apart, and careless helpers are prevented from hanging the stalks so that the leaves can touch each other. This gives a free circulation of air around each plant, causing them to dry evenly, of uni form color, and with less danger of pole sweat. This plan Is the device of Charles o. Newton of Homer, N. Y :, who believes that his system of hanging tobacco would so improve the color and quality of the leaf as to add materially to the selling value of crops. The catches are patented.
 MT Newton has some notions about handling and curing tobacco that at l least possess the merit of novelty to some | extent, although similar methods have
 been suggested by others. After tobac- co is cut and wilted, he thinks it should
 be laid very carefully upon low.down ! wagon, with springs and padded plat form. When conveyed to the drying house, each stalk should te taken off in | the order in which it was laid on the
 wagon, and handed to the man who is to
 hang it. Such care would prevent
 bruising or breakage of leaves.
 A curing shed, high enough for hang l ing lwo tiers of tobacco plants, he thinks
 it might be built quickly and cheaply by covering the sides with heavy burlap curtains and the roof with tent cloth. Between where the curtains are fastened at the bottom and the ground, l a space may be left open to permit a free upward circulation of air through
 all the hanging plants alike. This, he believes, will insure better and more
 uniform circulation than can be obtained by open doors at sides and ends; but if such method is preferred, the curtains can be folded back so as to leave ire quent openings.
 Inventions are being developed, and improved methods thought out, for ob tai ing better results in the culture and