DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 33

on the border rows may ripen more slowly than the inside
rows and often the cured tobacco is not as good quality.

 Transplanting tobacco: The small beds made in covering
the fertilizer are generally boarded or smoothed off immediately
ahead of transplanting. Tobacco plants are usually transplanted
by commercial hand setters, or by horse or tractor drawn
transplanters. (See figure 18.) Plants that are six to eight
inches in height are more easily transplanted by any of the
transplanting methods mentioned. Plant spacing will vary
with individual growers; however, 7500 to 8500 plants are
generally recommended and table 6 shows row widths and
plant spacings.

 Regardless of how planted all plants should be watered and
the soil firmly packed around the roots to insure good stands.
Many growers who are irrigating are leaving off transplant
watering at the time of setting the plant, however, they do
irrigate after setting a range. This practice has worked fine,
providing the grower did not have an infestation of wire-
worms. It is not easy to predict these infestations and a
small amount of water containing an insecticide would im-
prove stands and uniformity of growth if used when trans-
planting tobacco.

 Cultivation: Suggestions on how and when to cultivate always
stimulate arguments on the part of the growers and the
discussion of cultivation will be limited to the conventional
methods. As stated earlier, tobacco land should be prepared
thoroughly before transplanting and regular field cultivation
generally begins after the plants have a well established root
system. The general practice is to plow the tobacco and hoe
it concurrently. The first two cultivations are fairly deep
and often one will hear a grower state that he "dirted" his
tobacco; that is deep plowing, pushing the soil around plants.
This practice sometimes fails to accomplish its purpose par-
ticularly if this method of cultivation is used at the wrong
time, or if weather conditions are not favorable at the time.

 For the last several years a plant condition has been ob-
served throughout the flue-cured production area of the state
which resembles pumpkin bug injury in appearance. However,
this wilting or scalding condition has been associated with poor
seasonal conditions for growth. For example, in 1954, this