Diri^IOy OF TOBACCO 1019 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



in with a fall of but 1 inch to 100 feet they were working quite successfully, carrying 

 the water into the sand traps, the bottom of which is composed of a coarse gray sand, 

 a porous filter. 



PLANT BED EXPERIMENTS. 



As in former years, plants sold at a premium just at planting time, the demand 



was keen, seedlings selling up to $3 per thousand. Despite the fact that some of our 

 beds did not do as well as was expected, there was sufficient to plant the 9 acres of 

 Burlej^ and about 6 acres of AVarne without having to do any buying. 



Dijf event Kinds of Plant Beds Established. — Sixteen hundred square feet of beds 

 were established according to the following methods : — 



1. Hotbed with cotton covering. 



2. Cold bed with glass covering. 



3. Cold bed with glass covering and different proportions of home-mixed 

 ' fertilizer applied. 



4. Cold bed, glass covering, with a thin layer of black virgin soil applied. 



5. Cold bed, glass covering, using the ordinary sandy loam soil, manured 

 and fertilized. 



6. Cold bed, cotton covering, no fertilizer applied' but heavily manured, 

 and a layer of black soil used on the surface of the ordinary soil. 



Bright Tobacco Beds. — On April 17, eight beds, 560 square feet were fertilized 

 and sowed as follows : — 



5 beds dry seed, Warne variety. 



2 beds swollen seed, Virginia Erzegovine. 



1 bed swollen seed, Virginia Erzegovine Gigante. 



The above beds were fertilized at one-twelfth pound per square foot with the 

 single fertilizers, sulphate of potash, nitrate of soda, and superphosphate mixed in 

 equal proportions by weight. Black soil was applied to the ordinary soil, the ferti- 

 lizer applied to the top layer and raked in lightly. The soil was firmed with plank 

 after sowing. 



The seed came up uniformly and made a good growth till the leaves were the size 

 of a half-dollar, when growth was retarded despite the fact that a solution of nitrate 

 of soda was used in watering and close attention was given to the beds. The leaves 

 had a dark green cast, and the plants were the thick stalky type. On examining the 

 roots of specimens, it was found that the root system was not developed, particularly 

 there was an absence of the ramification of the fine rootlets. Again, the ends of the 

 main roots and even the extremities of the fine root hairs presented a dark, dead 

 appearance, as though they had been burned. It was noted that the new types of Vir- 

 ginia Erzegovine and Virginia Erzegovine Gigante did not show the effects of the 

 disease, although both the Warne and the latter-mentioned types wore sown on soil 

 which had received exactly the same previous treatment. Upon investigation it was 

 fouild that the disease in question was bed root rot, Thielavia basicola. 



These beds had not been treated with steam nor disinfected with formalin soki- 

 tion as a preventive measure. While the soil had been partly changed from year to 

 year it was noticed that where the roots penetrated into the old soil the disease 

 developes rapidly. While experienced growers of bright tobacco from Virginia claim 

 to be able to grow plants successfully, continuously on the .same soil, it has not been 

 proven to be thus in our experience. Warne plants had been grown on this soil, which 

 was partly changed each year for five successive seasons. The writer is fully con- 

 vinced that to grow any variety of tobacco plant, commonly grown in Ontario, on the 



Harrow. 



