Chapter II · CULTIVATION. (continued 2)

As Bishop remarks, cultivators are not agreed on the time and place for topping tobacco plants. “Some favour the plan of topping as soon as the blossom-buds appear, others prefer to wait until in blossom. I think there is no harm in letting the earliest plants bloom before being topped, but after once beginning, they should be broken off as soon as the buds begin to look yellow, and the latest plants as soon as the buds appear. A new beginner 64will be apt to top the plants too high. The object is to ripen and develop as many leaves as the plant can support; if topped too high, the top leaves are small, and when cured are nearly worthless, and the other leaves are not as large or heavy, whereas, if topped too low, then you lose one, two, or three leaves, which the plant might have supported. As a general rule, a plant just in blossom should be topped down to where the leaves are full 7 inches wide, leaving on the stalk from 15 to 18 leaves. This will leave the stalks about 2½ feet high in good tobacco. Later in the season, top the plants sooner and lower. Let as many of the earliest plants as will be wanted remain for seed. One plant will furnish seed enough to put out 5 acres, at least. These should be wormed and suckered like the rest, only leaving the suckers above where you would ordinarily break it off, were you to top it. The piece should now be looked over every other day, to break off the suckers and catch the worms. This should be done as soon as the dew is off in the morning, and towards night, as the worms are eating then, and can be found more readily, while in the heat of the day they remain hid. Great care should be taken not to break off the leaves while going through it, as they are nearly all wasted before the crop is ripe. As soon as the top is broken off, the sap is thrown into the leaves, causing them to expand rapidly. In the meantime suckers will start out just above where each leaf joins the stalk; these must be broken off, or the growth of the leaf will be checked, as the sap will be thrown into these young sprouts. Those nearest the top will start soonest, and 65will require breaking off twice before the plant is ripe; those at the bottom must all be broken off. This is the hardest and slowest work of all. Not only will these suckers check the growth of the plants, but if allowed to grow will soon break or pry off the leaves, or cause them to grow out at right angles from the stalk, rendering them more liable to be broken off. It is a good plan to have a piece of corn on the north side of a piece of tobacco, or, at least, two or three rows, to shield the growing plants from winds.”

Priming is defined by Thomas as “pulling off the bottom leaves to the number of 4 or 5,” and he says that any plant large enough to be topped ought to be primed first. All conditions being favourable, he considers that in Ohio, a “tobacco plant will ripen in as many weeks, from the time of topping it, as there are leaves left on the stalk. Consequently, if the topping is done early, it can be topped high, if later, it must be done lower, and if still later, still lower. Planters differ very much at this point. Some will top as high as 16 leaves, others 10, and a great many at 8. My own opinion is, that a plant topped at 10 will weigh as much as one at 16, topped at the same time, and on the same kind of land. About a week after a plant has been topped the suckers will begin to grow. A sucker is only an auxiliary branch which shoots out at the junction of the leaves to the stalk. If not removed, they will grow, and bloom, and ripen seed, and in doing so they will ‘suck’ the parent-stem of much of its vitality. When the crop of suckers are about 1 inch long they can be pulled or rubbed off, and it should surely be 66done. In about a week or 10 days a second crop of them will appear. These must also be promptly removed, and then the third crop will show itself, which must be similarly treated. The longer they are permitted to remain on the plant, the more they retard its development, and delay its maturity.”

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