The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-01-30
How to Grow Tobacco, Es-
pecally the Fine Wrapper
Variety Preparation of
Seed Bed and Soil-Mett1-
Cd of Barn Curing and the
Construction of Barn -
Other Useful Data.

to get to work in preparing ground
for tobacco painting.
The Proper Soil. ~
The first thing you must look for
| Is to see IL You have the right kind of
soil to grow tobacco, that will pro-
duce a grade of tobacco suitable for
| the market. The best results have
been obtained ON the type of soil
known as Norfolk fine sandy loan
This is a light gray 1oamy top soil to
| a depth of to 20 inches. with a
you have a suitable soil, the first step
is the preparing of the seed bed.
= The Seed Bed.
The best land for seed bed is a
| rich hammock. having a light gray
top soil, moist, but not wet Dry
thirsty land should be avoided One
hundred square yards of seed bed are
necessary for one acre of tobacco and
one tablespoon full of seeds is needed
to SOW this area; This space should
be thoroughly cleared and burned
over. The burning is done to destroy
al grass or weed seed or roots that
might otherwise come up and choke
the growth of the tobaa,o plant At
ter this is done, the ground is spaded
or broke I'D to a depth of 4 to
iucHcS, &dhlueS Out TOOIS anu IurIS.
1t is always advisable to use some fer
tiliZer such as cotton seed meal spread
broadcast and rolling them down with
an iron roller or using plank. If the
ground is dry at the time of sowing
It is best to wet the ground as soon
as sown and keep it moist throughout
till ready to TRANSPLANT. The bed
should be sown between February 1st
and March 18th. Then the plants
should be ready to transplant within |
so to 70 days
How to Prepare the Land.
Now comes the field cultivation. |
The land should be plowed deep in |
the fall with good two-horse p'ow, !
followed by a good one-horse sub-soil- |
er, by. so doing It will absorb the |
moisture during the winter. In the |
spring, your stable manure, cotton |
seed and lime should be spread on |
broadcast and plowed under Then |
in about four weeks, rebrake your |
land dry, lay of the rows four feet |
apart, putting your commercially ferti- |
1fzer in the row and list on to It max |
ing a bed. Just before you trans
plant burst open the bed and rebed |
them. thereby thoroughly mixing the |
fertilizer and soil.
The Fertilizer.
to make up fine shade wrappers that !
is nitrogen, phosphoric acid and pot |
ash. The following is formula that |
has been used successfully for one |
acre Of shade tobacco in Gadsden i
county: 600 pounds of ground bone, |
from Armour & Co., Chicago; 400 |
pound pure calcined potash, that can
be gotten from A Kfipstein, 122 Pearl |
street. New York: 100 pounds of air |
Stacked lime tthis lime should be
plowed in broadcast In December or |
january; 3eoe pounds of cotton seed
meal and Is to 80 loads of stable |
manure.
The above is the formula recon-
mended by D. A. Shaw, Of Quincy, |
and the following is recommended by |
r. W. Rowe, a government tobacco
expert, for one acre:
Twenty tons Of stable manure, 1000 |
pounds Of cotton seed meal, 400 |
pounds of steam bone meal; 300
pounds of carbonate of potash, 400 |
pounds of slack lime.
The foregoing is really all that the |
farmer needs to know up to the time |
that the plants are ready to set out. |
The procedure then is as follows:
Setting Out the Plants.
The plants are set from II to Is |
inches apart in the rows. The plants |
should be set at least to 10 days be- |
fore beginning cultivation.
The first cultivation should be deep |
followed by shallow as long as posi- |
bic and hand hoeing at least once a |
week, during the season. When the |
plants bud out it should he topped SO |
as to let it ripen, generally so days |
from time of setting.
Harvesting the Crop.
begins by picking the first four bot
tom or sand leaves. The leaves are |
picked. then taken to the barn in
baskets, where they are strung on
strings, which are on the sticks which
are feet, inches long and 1 1-2
inches wide. The leaves are packed |
back to back and face to face, putting
from 35 to 40 leaves on a stick, after
which they are placed on the tiers to
cure AS a rule, there are from L to
4 pichngs on stalk. Each picking
Is done In the same way until the en-
tire crop Is harvested.
Barn CURING.
Now that the crop is harvested.
comes the barn curing, which Is a
very important part 1t generally
takes from to weeks to cure. The
manipulation of the barn or curing
shed is governed by the weather
However, in general way 1t may be
said that II barn is filed with green
tobacco, and the weather Is hot and
Try the yentilators should be tightly
closed for about 8 days. by which
Tine the tobacco win be quite yellow.
rhe barn should be closed during the
fav ands opened at night
This is done SO as TO prevent too
amid q cure. II vou should have a
ong damp spsll. then It wifi be nee
sssary to use small fires and dry the
obacco out. You may have to do II
everal times during the season
When the stems Of the leaf are