. The culture of flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco. THE CULTURE OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO. 21 Belt section, generally will be decidedly better in quality, particu- larly in respect to color, than the later cuttings. In the New Belt and the eastern part of the Old Belt the harvest season, running through July and August, naturally comes in warm weather, and this is a distinct advantage, but even there the earlier curings are likely to be best in quality. Fairly early planting is to be preferred, therefore, even in that section, and the plants live better if trans- planted before the weather becomes too h
. The culture of flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco. THE CULTURE OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO. 21 Belt section, generally will be decidedly better in quality, particu- larly in respect to color, than the later cuttings. In the New Belt and the eastern part of the Old Belt the harvest season, running through July and August, naturally comes in warm weather, and this is a distinct advantage, but even there the earlier curings are likely to be best in quality. Fairly early planting is to be preferred, therefore, even in that section, and the plants live better if trans- planted before the weather becomes too hot and dry. But in the western part of the Old Belt the grower should make a strenuous effort to have an early crop by planting early and by choosing land on which the plants will grow Fig. 3.—A bed of tobacco plants, with the cloth cover removed, ready for trans- planting. PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR TRANSPLANTING. As already indicated, the best system of tobacco farming, particu- larly in the Old Belt, will provide for the fall or winter plowing of the tobacco land. The winter freezing will mellow the soil and the winter and spring rains will be better held for the use of the growing crop during the summer. Little faith should be placed in the oft- heard assertion that shallow plowing (3 or 4 inches) is best for tobacco, although in the Old Belt it probably would be unwise to turn up any considerable quantity of a stiff clay, but unless a field can be plowed as much as 6 inches deep without so doing, it is prob- ably not well suited to bright tobacco. If the field has been fall or winter plowed no further preparation will be necessary in the spring until it is time to fit the land for transplanting. The disk harrow is the best implement for working the soil into a good tilth, if followed by a drag harrow just before laying off the Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - col
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttobacco, bookyear1913
