DISCUSSION. 45 



Jones of Vermont abroad to study those varieties and to im- 

 port some of the seed. We imported seed from all the good 

 varieties from Scotland and from other countries, those are 

 all being carefully studied, and we hope, although it is a mat- 

 ter of the future, but v^e hope v^e shall be able to place in your 

 hands varieties of potatoes which shall be immune to this 

 disease. Of course, the stations and the Department have 

 also been working along the line of prevention by the use of 

 various washes and sprays. The use of formaldehyde and 

 the corrosive sublimate treatment is probably familiar to the 

 most of you, but we hope we shall have an immune variety, 

 which, of course, will be by far the better thing. 



A ]\Iember. Mr. President, I am not specially interested in 

 the subject of tobacco, but there are some tobacco growers 

 here, and in speaking of shade-grown tobacco the speaker 

 said that that is practically a failure. I want to ask if that 

 is not because it is grown under shade: if it is not because 

 it is grown without the sun and does not come out well any 

 more than grass does that is grown under shade? 



Dr. ^^^EBBER. The gentleman has asked a mooted ques- 

 tion. It is true that a leaf grown under shade is very thin. 

 You are. therefore, fighting with the manufacturer. The 

 manufacturer, on the one side, wants a leaf from which he 

 can cut the greatest number of wrappers, the greatest number 

 per pound. On the other hand, they are liable to get so thin 

 that they break up on the cigar. Now it is believed that the 

 product in Connecticut is rather thin, and, as I understand 

 the matter, in the experiments this year which have been 

 conducted on various lines, they have attempted to correct this 

 in a certain measure. Possibly, it may be done by removing 

 the tent a portion of the season. It is well known that the 

 plant developed in the open sun has a tendency to thicken. 

 The trouble is that there a leaf is produced which is too thick. 

 We have got to reach a mean between those two. We have 

 two ways of doing it. W^e may be able to accomplish it by 

 removing the tent for a portion of the time. I do not know 

 whether that will be successful or not. It is a matter of ex- 

 periment. Then again w^e may be able to do it by breeding, 

 in the same way that one plant produces a lot of suckers 

 and another plant develops none of them. In the same way, 

 one plant will produce thick leaves and another thin. If 



