446 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



from the plant cells after the death of 

 the plant. These two factors the au- 

 thors regard as the efficient cause of 

 these changes in silage which have hith- 

 erto been attributed to the growth of 

 bacteria, and they believe that bacteria 

 have nothing to do with the process 

 when it takes place in a normal manner. 



The outcome of the experiments in 

 growing Sumatra tobacco in the Con- 

 necticut Valley, recently reported by 

 the National Department of Agriculture, 

 is something more than a successful at- 

 tempt at plant introduction. It is a 

 tribute to the efficiency which has been 

 attained in the methods of conducting 

 soil survey, and a notable illustration 

 of the scientific and practical value of 

 such a survey as a basis for judging of 

 the adaptation of agricultural plants. 

 Two years ago the Division of Soils, in 

 connection with its soil surveys in the 

 Connecticut Valley, located areas about 

 Hartford which it believed were suited 

 to the growth of Sumatra tobacco. At 

 that time it had never been grown in the 

 region, and was not supposed to be adapt- 

 ed to it. During the past season the ex- 

 periment was undertaken, in co-opera- 

 tion with the Connecticut State Experi- 

 ment Station, on about a third of an 

 acre. This was shaded from the sun 

 by erecting a framework upon which 

 cheese-cloth was stretched at a distance 

 of about nine feet above the ground, and 

 inclosing the sides as well. The tobacco 

 grew well, and in due time was 

 harvested and fermented as is cus- 

 tomary. The quality of the finished 

 product was pronounced excellent, and 

 hardly to be distinguished from the im- 

 ported article. As a substantial proof of 

 this the crop has just been sold to a 

 dealer at an average price of 71 cents 

 per pound, including tops, butts and 

 trash, along with the choicer leaves. As 

 much as $1.25 per pound was received for 

 some of the unsorted product. The aver- 

 age price received for the regular to- 

 bacco crop grown in the locality is about 

 20 cent6. The Sumatra tobacco gave a 

 net profit at the rate of nearly $900 an 



acre, exclusive of the expense of erect- 

 ing the shade. The framework will last 

 several years, but the cheese-cloth will 

 have to be renewed each year. The ob- 

 ject of shading this tobacco is to pro- 

 duce a thin leaf with small veins and a 

 more luxuriant growth. Shading simu- 

 lates the natural conditions under which 

 it grows by making the atmosphere 

 more humid and less subject to sudden 

 changes. The Sumatra leaf is used for 

 cigar wrappers, and is especially valued 

 because it is elastic, free from objec- 

 tionable taste and aroma, has small 

 veins, which reduce the waste, and the 

 leaf cuts up to better advantage than 

 the ordinary wrapper leaf on account of 

 its shape. About six million dollars' 

 worth of Sumatra tobacco is imported 

 annually, upon which a duty of $9,000,- 

 000 is paid. The experts in the Division 

 of Soils estimate from their surveys that 

 there is sufficient soil adapted to its 

 growth in Connecticut and Florida to 

 produce all that is demanded. This 

 year's success will undoubtedly stimu- 

 late attempts to grow it regardless of 

 the adaptation of the soil, so that there 

 are likely to be many failures and dis- 

 appointments another season, unless the 

 advice of the Department is followed. 



An interesting chapter has been 

 added to the knowledge of the inert gases 

 of the atmosphere by Dr. Ramsay, the 

 co-discoverer of argon, and Dr. Traver3. 

 A little more than two years ago they 

 announced the discovery of krypton and 

 neon, and at the same time obtained in- 

 dications of two other gases, to which 

 they gave the names of met-argon and 

 xenon. They now find that the presence 

 of the so-called met-argon was due to 

 carbon in the phosphorus used for re- 

 moving the oxygen. By the use of large 

 quantities of liquid air they have, by 

 fractional distillation, obtained sufficient 

 amounts of krypton and xenon to study 

 their properties and measure their phys- 

 ical constants. They are all monatomic 

 gases, and in their inertness completely 

 resemble argon and helium. The spec- 

 tra of these elements have been exam- 



