DIVISION OF TOBACCO 1001 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



■ The above table indicates the distances apart at which the different varieties were 

 planted, the date of harvesting and the yield of raw tobacco (containing- from 25 to 

 28 per cent moisture) calculated from the number of plants not reserved for seed pro- 

 duction. 



The drought, the effects of which were so apparent on the tobacco plantations of 

 Quebec and western Ontario, also affected those at Ottawa. It was only by repeated 

 cultivations that the effects of the dry weather were minimized and a crop, estimated 

 at about two-thirds of the normal, obtained. 



As usual, of the varieties tested in 1913, the Canelle was the earliest. It was har- 

 vested at the normal time, but it should be noted that, as in the case of all the other 

 varieties grown, this harvest refers only to plants too feeble to be reserved for seed 

 plants. These are always earlier in ripening. 



Among the seed plants, the Canelle was harvested partly before the frosts of the 

 13th, 14th and 15th of September, and partly after the 19th. The seed gathered from 

 the later harvested plants was not distributed. 



On September 20, all the seed plants remaining on the plantation, that is to say, 

 almost all the varieties grown with the exception of Canelle, were pulled up with as 

 much soil as possible adhering to the roots, and were piled in a tent which was set up 

 each night and taken down in the morning. Shelteral from frost in this way, the seed 

 pods matured without accident. 



The few seed plants of Erzegovine Giant which had been preserved were trans- 

 planted into pots and placed in a well-lighted part of the tobacco warehouse where 

 they finally bloomed but produced few pods and only a small amount of seed. 



NOTES ON THE VAEIETIES TESTED. 



Connecticuts, Big Ohio, Big Havana, General Grant. — Among the requests for 

 tobacco seed received each year from growers in the province of Quebec, those for 

 the Connecticuts, General Grant, and Big Havana have increased noticeably during 

 the last two years. These requests come specially from the counties of Montcalm, 

 Joliette, I'Assomption, and Berthier, and it would appear that after devoting several 

 years to growing Comstock Spanish, which had taken the place of the large and heavy- 

 yielding pipe tobaccos, the growers of this region have returned to the latter. 



It is difficult to understand the economic reasons which have caused this return 

 to the growing of varieties comparatively slow in maturing and which rarely escape 

 damage from the early autumn frosts, without mention of the fact that their enormous 

 development of leaf ribs makes their curing sometimes difficult. It would seem that 

 the low price paid during the last two or three years, unfavourable ones for the north- 

 ern-grown Comstocks, have discouraged these growers. 



There are grounds for hope of an increase in price with a normal crop, while the 

 over-production of the large varieties can only result in lower prices being received. 



In any case, even at Ottawa where the growing season is much longer than in the 

 counties mputioned above, the growing of the large Connecticuts is hazardous enough. 

 The General Grant can be recommended for the Ottawa valley. It is harvested late, 

 it is true, but on account of the advanced stage of maturity at whicli the harvesting 

 takes place it i.s less exposed to frost than the varieties with tender leaves, full of 

 water, like the CoTinocticuls, which are harvested when mucli less mature and which, 

 in reality, are much later. 



Of all the varieties tested here, the Big Ohio is much the latest in maturing. It 

 may be noted that it is cut at a very early stage of maturity. 



The Big Havana is very little earlier, and could not be recommended for those 

 jmrts of the province of Quebec where frost is to be feared before September 15. 



Ottaw.\. 



