The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1914-01-15
TOEkCCO RAISING
IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
MIR IN HARPER GIVES GENERAL
INFORMATION FOR PLANTING
AND CARING FOR CROP.
Concluded from last week..
MAKING OF SEED BED.

MAKING OF SEED BED.
Fer beginners the most important
thing at present to know is how to
make a seed bed. The bed can be
located on any we'll drained place,
preferably with rich soil. 1t should
have a southern exposure and, If
possible, should be well protected
by woods. If located in woods,
trees should be cut at least SO feet
all around it, as shade is harmful
and the trees may draw too heavily
on the moisture. If possible, the
bed should Re planted near stream
so as to be watered conveniently if
it become necessary. The seed bed
should be made any time in January
or the first part of February. After
the place has been decided upon, it
should be laid off about nine feet
wide and as long as desired. All
the trash should be raked off so as
to remove as much weed seed as
possible, and then a large bonfire
should be made to thoroughly burn
the soil to destroy insec: eggs,
fungus spores and weed seed. Dry
pine wood is admirable for this pur-
pose. The bonfire is made by lay
ing skids two feet apart, made of
green gum or green pine. On these
are piled layers of wood, trash,
brush, etc. The burning should
continue until the land is thoroughly
burned from two to four inches. 1t
is best to burn the tobacco bed
when the ground is dry, as the heat
under this condition will penetrate
much deeper. Afterward all un-
burned particles of wood and Goals,
etc, should be carefully raked off.
The bed should be lightly plowed or
spaded and 100 pounds of an 8-4-4
fertilizer should be applied to every
lOOjsquare yards of bed. This ferti-
lizer should be thoroughly hoed and
the bed carefully raked. The next
day the seed should be sown. Be-
fore sowing, the seed should be
thoroughly mixed with dry sifted
ashes, corn meal or land plaster,
using one teaspoonful of seed to
one-half gallon of the other material,
sowing this mixture on 100 square
yards. 1t is well to sow the seed
both lengthwise and crosswise. as
suring an even distribution of the
seed. The bed should then be care
fully raked and rolled. If no roller
is available, it should be packed by
tramping. The bed should be pro-
tected by a 12-inch board on all
sides, which should be sunk into the
ground to a depth of four and a
half inches. Across this frame should
be nailed poles and over these should
be stretched tobacco cloth of good
grade and carefully tackled down to
the edges of the boards. Around
the entire bed a ditch should be dug
to prevent water from flowing over
it or seeping under the bed, as
standing water is very detrimental
to young tobacco plants. The cloth
protects the bed from wind-carried
weed seeds, insects, and besides
moderates the temperature. Some.
times galvanized wire is used in
stead of the poles to hold up the
cloth from the surface of the bed.
If the tobacco bed is started off
early, it will hardly be necessary to
water it, but in case the bed is late
in getting started, and a dry spell
occurs in the spring, it becomes
necessary to water. If the plants
show lack of moisture, they should
be watered. However, it does not
injure them to suffer slightly from
drought. About two weeks before
the plants are ready to be set, when
the warm days of spring come, the
cloth should be removed to harden
them before transplanting. Some
times, if the plants show lack of
nitrogen by their coloring, three
pounds of nitrate of soda is dissolv-
ed in ten gallons of water and dis
tributed over 100 square yards, or.
better still, the nitrate of soda is
beaten into fine powder and ap-
piled about noon when the plants
are thoroughly dry.
CUT WORMS.
Sometimes cutworms are destruc-
tive in the beds. If they become too
ro,,nh co they can he DESTROYED hY |