Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/225

 spite of slight manuring, the cane never reached any height. It was then ploughed and manured again, but to no purpose, and not until it had been idle for two years, and then green manured, did it produce anything worth having, yet it had produced a splendid crop of tobacco. I only quote this as a warning to others. One ounce of tobacco seed to the acre is sufficient. It should be raised in small beds and then planted out. In sowing all seeds to be transplanted a heap of grass or brushwood can be burnt and then the ashes dug in and the seeds sown there, in this way you kill all the insects and their eggs which are in the earth at this season (August to October).

In planting out be sure to work the ground that is to receive the plants, and choose a cloudy day for transplanting, being careful when lifting not to break the roots which are long and large, take up as much earth as possible with them and make the holes to receive them large, roomy and deep, and be careful not to double in the roots. Press the soil well round, and if the sun is very hot they must be shaded for a day or two. When the plant is about a foot high pull off the lower leaves to about five inches from the ground, and hill the earth up round the plant, and when at is nearly two feet high the last hoeing can be given. Directly blossom buds appear pinch off the tops so as not to leave more than eight or nine leaves on each plant, and at the same time nip out any shoots that may start from the base of the leaves and the roots. Thus you will turn the whole strength of the plant into the leaves. The young plants must be carefully watched for grubs which are very fond of them, the cabbage bug or grub is the same that attacks the tobacco plants.

It is as well to have portable calico screens for use on frosty nights, or as protection against bleak cold winds. When sowing the seed, mix one ounce of it with about three pints of sand, thus sown it falls more evenly.

Elsewhere I have entered very fully into this subject, from the time the plants are fit for cutting, but a few words on the sowing and the cultivating may not be out of place. Prepare the seed bed on rich virgin loam. A river flat or a plot near a creek or lagoon is best if possible, as the young plants require a good deal of water. Clear the ground, grub out all roots, and cover the plot thick with brush and dry grass and burn it, heaping more wood on to make the fire as hot as possible and to last as long, for well burned ground is the very best for raising all such plants as tobacco, cabbage, &c. I have seen two plots close together planted with tobacco seed; one had been burned the other not. On the former