File:Cyclopedia of farm crops (1922) (20639820900).jpg

Title: Cyclopedia of farm crops
Identifier: cyclopediaoffarm00bail (find matches)
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde), 1858-1954, ed
Subjects: Farm produce; Agriculture
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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TOBACCO TOBACCO 651 destroyed as soon as they appear, or they can be poisoned with a very light spray of Paris green mixture. The " powder gun" has come into general use and is rapidly replacing the spray pump for poisoning the hornworm and budworm. The grow- ers who still employ the spray pump use one pound of Paris green and an equal quantity of quicklime to 100 gallons of water, this being sufficiently strong to kill the hornworms without injuring the leaves. If a stronger solution is u.sed there is danger of burning the leaves, so that patches of green will appear after curing. A mixture of one pound of Paris green to thirty pounds of lime or land-plaster (gypsum) is recommended for use in the powder gun. Zimmer Spanish and Little Dutch tobaccos. The preparation and care of the seed-bed for Zimmer Spanish and Little Dutch varieties, and the preparation of the soil, methods of transplanting and cultivating, harvesting, curing and ferment- ing are essentially the same as for Connecticut Havana. The plants should be set in rows three feet apart and the seedlings set fifteen to twenty inches apart in the rows. The plants should be topped so as to leave about sixteen leaves for each plant. The average yield of the Zimmer Spanish variety is about 600 pounds to the acre, while the yield of the Little Dutch variety is considerably less. Maryland smoking tobacco. The seed-bed should be located on a dark, friable, loamy soil with a southern exposure. The old method of burning the seed-bed has been largely abandoned, but, if used, care should be taken to burn only small timber and brush. A large quan- tity of ashes is detrimental to the growth of the young plants. All trees within thirty or thirty-five feet should be cut down and piled on the north and west sides of the bed for a partial protection against the cold winds. The sides of the bed should be eight to ten inches high, and wires three feet apart should be stretched across it. The beds can be covered with light cheese-cloth or tobacco-bed cloth, after the seed has been sown. The covering serves as a pro- tection against the ravages of flea-beetles and other insects, provided there are no open spaces around the bed. When cloth is not used for a covering, the beds must be closely guarded against the attacks of the flea-beetle. When this insect first makes its appearance, the plants should be treated with Paris green at the.rate of one pound to thirty pounds of land-plaster. The cloth cover- ing should be removed from the beds at least a week before transplanting, to prevent the injurious efliects of the radical change from the seed-bed to the open field. The bed should be spaded to a depth of four or five inches, and all roots and tufts carefully removed. The soil must be thoroughly pulverized with garden hoes, hand-rakes or other suitable implements. Before the last stirring, an application of a highly nitrogenous fertilizer should be evenly distributed over the bed and thoroughly incorpo- rated in the soil. A mixture of fifty pounds of nitrate of soda, forty pounds of fine-ground bone, and ten pounds of carbonate of potash, applied at the rate of thirty pounds per square rod, is highly recommended. In most cases it is advisable to replenish the plant-food with a top-dressing or fertilizer of the same composition as that of the first application. This should be applied in liquid form wherever it is possible to wash it in thoroughly: otherwi.se it is important to top-dress the beds only on hot, dry days. The top-dressing should be used when the plants are two to three inches high. Sow the seed at the rate of two tablespoonfuls to the square rod. It can best be uniformly distributed over the bed by mixing with wood-ashes or land- plaster, dividing it into two equal parts, and sowing half of it over the bed crosswise and the other half lengthwise. All weeds and grass should be removed. It is seldom necessary to water the plant-beds, except in the case of unusually dry weather. Water at this time is very essential. It should be applied as in the northern seed-beds, but less frequently, it being seldom neces.sary to water the beds more than twice a week. ^^^
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Fig. 880. Tobacco in curing shed. Care must be used to wet the seed-bed thoroughly before drawing; the plants, thus protecting the roots from injury. The mottled or mosaic tobacco, so common in Maryland tobacco-fields, is frequently due to the practice of drawing the plants when the soil is not thoroughly moistened. The plants should be set in the field in rows three and one-half feet apart and the plants twenty to thirty-five inches apart in the row. Tobacco should be preceded by a leguminous crop of some kind, hairy vetch being highly recommended for this purpose. In addition to the nitrogen from the leguminous crop, a fertilizer rich in potash and containing a moderate amount of phosphoric acid should be added before trans- planting. The best stand is secured in the field when the land has been plowed deeply and harrowed several times, thus leaving a thoroughly pulverized soil for the reception of the plants. The method of cultivation, topping, suckering, and harvesting

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