Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1936-09-24
Growing; Curing and Selling
OfTobacco Is No Easy Task

water near at hand.
When the spot is located, favorite
next step is to pile brush and limbs
over the proposed seed bed so the
area may be burned off. This burn
ing is supposed to kill all grass seed
and at the same time have a steriliz-
ing effect on the soil.
Then all stumps and roots in the
area to be sowed are dug out so the
plot may be as smooth and even as
the dirt in a flower pot. Fertilizer
is added and then the tobacco seed
are sown.
1t takes only a tablespoonful of
seed to sow hundred yards, and in
order to assure even distribution, the
seed are mixed with sifted ashes.
That's the process for sowing the
seed
Next a log or board at least four
inches high about the bed provides
protection against the cold wind and
at the same time provides a place to
tack the edgest of the finemeshed
cloth used to cover the bed
Selecting Field
His bed sowed and protected, the
to set his new crop. In this selection
he has to consider the uniformity of
the soil, for different types of soil
produce different grades of tobacco
The land is plowed as early as pos
sible in order to give the dead vege-
tation plenty of time to decompose.
In the meantime the tobacco seed
have grown into tiny plants. Small
weeds have also sprung up in the
bed, however, and many tedious
hours have to be spent in picking the
bed free of these pests -
Then it is time for hauling fert-
lizer-it requires approximately 1000
pounds of guano per acre for tobacco
Next the rows are ridged up and the
fertilizer put in.
The setting out of the plants is
job in itself. 1t requires painstaking
sare and attention, for a good stand
is vital Importance. Of course the
field can be-and often is-replanted;
but no tobacco crop has ever been
able to overcome the effects of a poor
stand.
After the plants have been set the
work has just begun. First come the
cut worms, and the battle to elimi-
nate them In between civilizations
and tobacco requires a lot of cult
walton. The next pest to arrive and
harass the grower is the bud worm.
Then comes "suckerina" usually
followed fairly closely by the horned
tobacco worm.
If the crop survives these, it is
about time to be getting ready to
house the tobacco, and members of
the growers family begin making pre-
parations for putting in the first barn
as soon as the bottom leaves begin to
yellow. Barns are cleaned out. flues
repaired and sticks hauled down to
the barn.
When the work of putting in" the
barn begins, the men go to the field
to crop" the leaves that are ripe.
Trucks, or Slides" narrow enough
to pass between the rows, are used
to haul the pulled tobacco to the
barns.
AT the barn, under a tying shell
ter it is tied on sticks in punches
OF from two to five leaves. It is then
80 IAAS DNA ~ Will SLlCkS DldCGQ
an even distance apart in order to
assure uniform curing.
Curing
Then comes the curing, with some
one sitting up every night at the
Darn to see that the temperature is
maintained at a consistently low
neat until the tobacco reaches the
proper color. When it reaches that
stage the heat is forced slowly up-
ward to point where the leaf and
stem begins to dry out.
Drying the moisture out of the stem
ana ieaf-that is the entire princinle
OF curing tobacco. Once the process
IS begun, it must be continued grad
ually until it is completed. A drop
IN the heat, once it has started IN.
would allow the moisture to run back
out OF the stem again into the veins
Oh the leaf, leaving a color mark that
Will remain there until it is ground
INTO some cheap product. For It is
the unblemished leaves that bring the
fancy prices
AFTER the curing, completed under
ordinary conditions within four NIGHTS
the cured leaf is removed from tba
Darn to the storehouse where II ia
graded and packed preparatory to
being taken to market.