"No rigid rules can be given for any process in tobacco culture, which depends much upon weather and season, but certain advantages may be obtained by skillful adaptation of general principles to circumstances. This is especially true of raising tobacco plants, which occupy an extremely slight depth of ground for weeks after sowing, making it necessary to prepare the whole soil with reference to the state of this thin surface. Any slight mistake of treatment may make in the end a difference of several days; consequently each item is of importance. While every tobacco-raiser wants early plants, and appreciates the value of a good location for growing them, many naturally sheltered spots of ground, protected from northerly winds by buildings, trees, or hills, remain unappreciated. Tight board fences are no protection worth mentioning.
"A heavily manured crop of tobacco would fit such places for tobacco beds, and leave them freer from weeds than any other cultivation; and a subsequent use of some commercial fertilizer would avoid the introduction of weed seed. With these precautions, and a careful destruction of all neighboring weeds, a tolerably clean bed may be expected. To prepare the ground, plow or loosen deeply with a large cultivator; harrow in two-thirds of the fertilizer to be used; rake the bed perfectly level, then rake in the other third; roll once, and another slight raking will fit the bed for sowing, after which it should be rolled down hard. If the soil is handled in drying weather, it should be done quickly, because damp ground, if prepared and rolled down before drying, will 'set' like mortar, and remain damp on the surface. Moisture and darkness are essential to the germination of the seed, and these conditions can be secured only by making the surface compact while damp. The disintegration of the deeper lumps, and the decomposition of fertilizers, will cause the surface to grow gradually softer. The effect of plowing is to break the ground into lumps, which lie upon each other, giving free admission to the air between them. Harrowing makes finer the lumps near the surface, and mixes the fertilizer deeper than a rake can be used. The first raking is to pulverize and level, so that rains will neither collect in ponds, nor run off, but penetrate the soil evenly. The second raking is to mix the fertilizer equally through the soil, to the depth of an inch or less, and reduce the lumps to the size of peas, which is as fine as a medium loam can be made without danger of a tough crust. Too much working destroys the healthy grain of the soil, and reduces it to a paste, which the roots of the tobacco plants can penetrate but slowly.
Making the Plant Bed in Connecticut.
"The bed should not be watered before nor after the plants come up. The ground will be cold enough without any extra evaporation, and if the place is suitable for tobacco plants, and rightly fitted, the surface will be damp in the morning, even in very dry weather. If the plants need stimulating, sow on them a coat of Peruvian guano or super-phosphate at the commencement of a rain, regulating the quantity used by the amount of the water likely to fall. Superphosphate makes dark-colored, thick-leaved, stocky plants. Fish guano has about the same effect, but gives a lighter color and thinner leaf. Peruvian guano is more stimulating than either, and makes a light-colored, thin leaf. Great caution is necessary in the use of these powerful medicines to avoid an over-dose. A quantity that would be safe in a heavy rain, would in a light rain kill many or nearly all the plants.
"Old seed will sprout sooner than new. The seed should be measured while dry, and the same spoon used every year, so the effect of a given amount may be noted and the quantity regulated by experience. Level the seed in the spoon with a knife-blade, like measuring grain in a half-bushel. After sprouting again, allowing for the seed, increase in bulk for each rod separately. The amount of seed needed to the square rod varies with different seasons, soils, and seeds, but can be loosely a tablespoonful. There are many breeds of tablespoons. Too thick sowing will nearly spoil a bed by causing it to produce weak, yellow, spindling plants, while thin sowing will give good square ones. A bed should appear about half stocked till the plants are nearly ready to set, when they will suddenly spread and seem to multiply.
"Some growers sprout and some prefer dry seed. In favorable circumstances sprouting will give a gain of four to six days, but in many cases dry seed will be fully as early. A long sprout is liable to be broken off in sowing, or killed by cold, after it is in the ground. A sprout just showing will endure several nights' freezing if there is some warm sun in the day-time. One way to sprout is to spread the seed thinly on cotton cloth, and roll it up inside of woolen cloth, keep it in a warm place, and dip in warm water every day. In about four days the white spots will show. Sprouted no more than this, it will stand unfavorable weather as well as dry seed. A pint of meal and a pint of plaster to each rod, is a good mixture to sow in. Pouring from one dish to another many times will mix the plaster, meal, and seed perfectly if dry. If sprouted, it should be rubbed through the hands a few times with the mixture, to dry it and prevent any bunches of plants coming from seed stuck together. The plaster will show on the ground whether the sowing is being done evenly.
"Weeding should of course be done early and thoroughly. Weeds are stronger than the plants, and a little neglect will check them, making practically, perhaps, a difference of several days. A good way to prepare for weeding and taking up plants, is to make the bed about fifteen feet wide, and place round, straight poles across it about eleven feet apart. The poles should be three inches in diameter at the smallest end. They cost nothing and save moving blocks around with the weeding planks."
If the plants are tardy of growth, or the season is backward, wooden frames covered with cloth soaked in linseed oil may be placed over the beds, which is far better than to cover with pine boughs or glass even. The cloth soaked in oil draws the rays of the sun and keeps the earth dry and warm, causing a rapid growth of the plants, which at this stage need forcing in order to be forward enough for early transplanting. A Virginia planter gives the following description of making the