The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1900-03-22
Tobacco Culture.

cu pIOlllSe GHit "Oui0 "il0o ooiio
thing for the great and glorious
sheet of which he is the able manag-
ing editor. | made the promise.
You see | am q sort of weak minded,
good-natured fellow, willing to do
ANYTHING that anybody wants me to
do, whether | can do it or not. 1t
was upon this basis that made the
promise.
Now, Uncle Elihu didn't tell ME
what to write about, and that was
where he dropped his cake; but |
am going to write about tobacc"
culture. l have vague idea that
there is a large majority of fools in
the business, and that's why they
all keep so poor and lean around the
mouth. If any one asks me, "Did you
ever plant any tobacco" I'll say no;
it is not necessary to know about a
thing in order to write about it. I'm
a sort of a preacher, and I've met
lots of fellows who had never preach
ed, but who could tell me how it
ought to be done. Pm going to
work the same racket on tobacco
planters. So here goes, and | want
YOU all to keep still while | do this
piece of telling.
70 raise tobacco, you must have
ground to plant it in. Tobacco
positively refuses to"grow unless
planted in the ground. The better
the ground, the more tobacco You
will make, provided your guano bill
is not too large. Tobacco will moi
thrive under too heavy lien to the
merchant. A lien means too mnci
for the weak spine of the weed t(
sustain it.
The ground ought to be clay an(
sand and things mixed, with thu
sand under the bottom or just ovel
the branch in your neighbor's field
Too much sand over Oil yonr Side
makes grit in the weed, and gri
wears out the gums, if n fellow hap
| pens to have no teeth for chewing
In selecting seed, be careful. If
were planter, / would plant NJ
plugs of black tobacco. Black to
/ bacco has got licorice in it, togethe
with molasses and other herbs, all o.
which are liable to get man out O.
humor with his wife and children
In planting tobacco, it will be econ
omical 20 split the plugs before put
ting them in the ground. | neve
could see the use of putting whol
plug in one hill. Split them by al
means. The yield will be just d
great and the cost less. Besides, b.
planting plugs one can do ava,
with the hot-beds, and raise tobacco
ready for market, all except boxing
it, and paying the Government tax
Along about January, the worm
have habit of coming in, and
hear that they poster the farmer
amazingly. l don't see why the,
should, vermifuge can be bought Il
alb the one-horse stores in the world
including those in China and Japan
A farmer is foolish to suffer witt
worms when vermifuge is so cheap
| q make no charge for this advice.
When the tobacco is ripe-an'
you can always tell this by biting OF
a chew or two-it is sure to bring
good price, provided it is stuck full
of little tin tags. Tobacco withou
tags is no good. These tags ar
very cheap, and can be gotten sec
ond-hand from little boys on tn
tstreets. By getting the second-han
tag, one can put an "Olc Rove
Brand" on any cheap grade of goods
and sell it at two prices. This woul'
look like cheating, I know; but
am a reformer, and l don't see VIII.
= farmer can't get even with tn
world hy cheating in return for be
ing cheated. My advice to him i
to wade in and get the secondhand
tags. His coffee, flour and suga
are all adulterateI, and | think h
NAV as we'll catch up with the pro
cession, and become a rascal alon:
with the multitude. Fact is, i rea
honest man feels mighty lonesom
these days, and has no one to ru'
with. That's why some of 'em e
crazy; they just have no where els
to 60.
| Now, in the matter of plantin!
smoking tobacco, l don't think i
wise to plant the little sacks. Thes
sacks are sometimes very tough whel
made out of good cloth, and tn
weed may refuse to break through
and grow. OF course, to look at il
one would think that smoking t"
bacco should be planted in drills
but this is not so. 1t should be drop
ped in hills about a foot and a hal
apart, running clean across the tiel@
both ways and back. The furthe
it runs in any given direction, tn
longer it will take to come back, ant
the more tobacco you will make. Il
a field of smoking tobacco, fire i
very dangerous, and a man shoul'
always empty his pockets of matche
and pieces of flint and steel befor'
entering ais field. This is becaus'
the weed is very dry and highly com
bustlble. Furthermore, it is no
wise to try to raise tobacco bags IL
the same field with the smoking to
bacco. They easily mix and eros
breeds, so that the smoke from one
pipe smells like old rags. Land i
plentiful. Therefore plant them il
separate fields.
| N,,, Ia ,,o oivo Gonna ,ronaro