to the next operation, (that) of
planting.

"The office of planting the tobacco, is performed by two or
more persons, in the following manner: The first person
bears, suspended upon one arm, a large basket full of the
plants, which have just been drawn and brought from the
plant bed to the field, without waiting for an intermission
of the shower, although it should rain ever so heavily; such
an opportunity indeed, instead of being shunned, is eagerly
sought after, and is considered to be the sure and certain
means of laying a good foundation, which cherishes the hope
of a bounteous return. The person who bears the basket,
proceeds thus by rows from hill to hill; and upon each hill
he takes care to drop one of his plants. Those who follow
make a hole in the center of each hill with their fingers,
and having adjusted the tobacco plant in its natural
position, they knead the earth round the root with their
hands, until it is of a sufficient consistency to sustain
the plant against wind and weather. In this condition they
leave the field for a few days, until the plants shall have
formed their radifications; and where any of them shall have
casually perished, the ground is followed over again by
successive replantings, until the crop is rendered
complete."

In tropical regions, the plants are transplanted as well in summer and
fall as in the spring, but more frequently in the early autumn. In
Mexico, transplanting is performed from August till November. In
Persia, the tobacco plants are "transplanted on the tops of ridges in
a ground trenched so as to retain water. When the plants are thirty to
forty inches high, the leaves vary from three to fifteen inches in
length, when the buds are ready to be pinched off; the leaves
increase in size until August and September, when they have attained
their growth." In Turkey "when the young plants are about six inches
in height they are removed from the small beds and planted in fields
like cabbages in this country, and are then left to nature to develop
them to a height of from three to four feet; three leaves, however,
are removed from each plant to assist its growth."

[Illustration: American transplanter.]

A year or two since, a machine was invented and offered to the growers
of the Connecticut valley, called a transplanter, of which we here
give an engraving.