Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1896-01-03

field, such plants az are ready
should be first primed-that is,
have their lower leaves broken of
as high as four to six inches from
the ground, and then topped at
ten leaves, unless the form of the
plant is very gross, in which case
| twelve leaves are not Objectionable.
AT the second topping, such other
plants as are ready should be top
ped at nine, and so on down to
eight and seven leaves at each sue
ceeding topping, which is usually
at an interval of one week. The
lessening ofthe number ofleaves at
each successive topping is 20 cause
all the plants which were planted
at the same time to ripen together,
being a great convenience in cut
ting.
WORMS
which prey upon tobacco plants
are of three varieties, the cut-worm,
the bud-worm and the horn-worm,
and to throw the crop, as much as
possible, into a single field is much
of safeguard, and q still better
one is that Of forward or eally
planting as possible for the best of
reasons that in August the fly is
doing its mischief, selecting the
young and tender plants, and will
even choose other yegitation rath-
er than ripe or ripenlng tobacco,
upon which the newly-hatcbcd
worm will not thrive, and can
hardly exist. AT every stage of
the crop an outlook should be
kept upon the horn worm; after
the first of July the entire crop
m ust be wormed over once a week,
using whatever extra labor is need
ed for the purpose.
1t is much easier to destroy the
worm while it is very young, for
then it is always to be found near
the whole it has made in the leaf.
But if it is neglected in its youth
and allowed to grow until it begins
to change its position npon the
plant, it is harder to catch, and il
then becomes important 10 know
something of its habits in order to
hunt it successfully. 1t is best TO
do the worming early IN the NOR
ming and late in the evening, for
the worm is an exceedingly lazy
fellow and will shirk the heat of
the day if possible when he is suf-
ficiently large to shift his quarters.
The best plan would he to run
over the tobacco early in the NOR
ming and pick off the worms, and
during the day break off the suck
ers.
SUCKERING.
As soon as the plant is topped it
begins to put forth suckers at ev-
cry leaf, but more rapidly at the
toy. They should be taken out
cleanly as fast as they are long
enough to .be broken off by the
hand, After a field has been gen
orally topped, the suckering shonld
accompany the worming, and
ought to be repeated once a week.
The ground suckers should be ta-
ken away as carefully as those
above, for they equally impoycrish
the plant.
Let your tobacco stand on the
hill until ripe, but not too ripe, and
do not cut any until barn can be
filed with plants of uniform ripe
ness, colorand quality. Put seven
medium-size plants on stick four
and half feet long. Let the plants
60 from the cutters hand over the
stick in the hands of the holder.
After filled, the sticks should not
touch the ground for any length of
time; in fact, il is better Tor them to
go directly from holder to wagon,
and from wagon to barn, where
they should be TERED about eight
inches apart-that is, if the tobacco
is of medium size. An ordinary
butcher-knlfe will do for cutting.
The plant before being cut off the
hill should be split two-thirds of
the way down from the top, and