The preparation of the land for the field crop is generally begun in the month of March, the usual practice being to turn under the soil with a two horse plow to a depth of about eight inches. About the middle of April, a revolving disk or harrow is run over the land in order to cut the sod to pieces, after which the field is smoothed over with a slab drag. It is very rare for fertilizers or manure of any kind to be used in the White Burley districts. Tobacco stalks and trash from the barnyard are preferred to any other fertilizer for this tobacco. Owing to the fact that the crop is grown for two years and the field is then put in rotation with other crops, the fertility of the soil is maintained.
The tobacco plants are usually set after a shower, or, when there is no rain, they are set in the after noon. The land is cultivated with a bull-tongue cultivator during the first week or so, and then cultivated every week with a double-shovel culti vator as long as it is possible to do so without injury to the plants. As soon as the cultivation is finished the plants are topped, leaving sixteen to twenty leaves on each plant. Four to five weeks after topping, the tobacco is usually fully ripe and the plants are cut with a tobacco cutter or butcher knife. The stalks are split down the middle and strung on sticks four and one-third feet in length, after which they are taken to the tobacco barn and hung twelve inches apart on the tier poles. When fully cured, the tobacco is sorted, usually into six grades, and the different grades are tied into bundles of ten to twenty leaves and packed for the market.
Enemies.
insect is troublesome in the seed-bed. It is combated by a light spray of Paris green (1 pound of Paris green, 1 pound of quick lime, 100 gallons of water, constantly stirred while in use). The same remedy can be applied to the hornworm when the seed-bed is open.
Tobacco worm.—Two species of these worms attack the tobacco crop, — Phlegethontius celeus (northern), and Phlegethontius Carolina (southern). The eggs are deposited on both surfaces of the leaves and the young worms eat the leaves. Hand picking, dusting with Paris green or spraying with Paris green (one pound to 160 gallons of water) are effective.
Cutworms.—Several cutworms are troublesome, among them being Feltia jaculifera, F. gladiaria, and F. subgothica. They cut off or eat up the young plants immediately after transplanting. Combating is done by sowing along the rows a mixture of bran and Paris green (1 pound of Paris green to 50 pounds of bran). A small quan tity of molasses may be added to the mixture.
Budworm (Heliothis armiger)—This insect attacks the bud and tender leaves at the top of the plant during the growing period. Hand picking and dusting or spraying with Paris green are effective.
Pole-burn appears as dark spots near the middle rib or veins of the leaves, and may spread very rapidly. Careful application of heat and ventilation of the sheds to reduce humidity are the remedies.
Root-rot (Thielar,•ia basicola).—This fungus occurs most in seed-beds where it may be de stroyed by sterilizing the soil with heat or for malin before the seed is sown. In the field, proper rotation of crops, drainage, the application of lime and fertilizers are suggested.
Calico disease is not fully understood. Good cultivation, fertilization and favorable growing conditions are remedies.
Literature.
J. Carver, Culture of the Tobacco Plant, London ; John H. Cooke, Tobacco ; J. L. P. Fevre, is Tabac, Paris ; Chas. W. Saxton, Handbook of Tobacco Cul ture, New York ; R. de Coin, History and Cultiva tion of Cotton and Tobacco, London ; 0. Comes, Tobacco in Italia ; J. D. Cameron, A Sketch of the Tobacco Interests of North Carolina ; J. B. Kille brew, Report on the Culture of Tobacco, United States Census, 1883 ; Edw. J. Beale, English To bacco Culture, London ; Killebrew and Myrick, Tobacco Leaf, New York ; A. Nouvel, Notes Sur la Culture des Tabacs, Paris; D. Dkobert, Culture de Tabac, Lille ; V. P. G. Demoor, Culture du Tabac, Luxembourg ; Nessler, Der Tabak, seine Bestandtheile and seine Behandlung ; Nessler, Landwirtschaftliche Versuchstationen ; Kissling, Tabakkunde ; Bere, Le Tabak, Bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture and Experiment Station reports, particularly from Con necticut, Maryland, North Carolina and Kentucky. A large part of this article is adapted from Bulletin No. 91, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, Varieties of Tobacco, by Shamel & Cobey, and Bulletin No. 96, Tobacco Breeding, by the same authors.
Figs. 881-886.
Truck-growing has been distinguished from mar ket-gardening proper as the growing of vegetables at such a distance from market that railroad or water transportation is required for reaching the market. It is usually practiced where land is low priced as compared with that on which vegetables are grown within driving distance of the large city markets. Less intensive methods of culture are practiced and a smaller assortment of vege tables is grown, but the acreage devoted to a sin gle crop by an individual grower is usually larger in truck-growing than in market-gardening. Often only one or two truck crops are grown in a given locality, and these may constitute the "money crops" in a system of mixed farming, or in excep tional cases large areas may be devoted to a single crop by a person who gives his whole attention to that one crop. The latter condition obtains only in regions especially adapted to the particular crop in question.