696 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



iu samples taken from different sections of it. It has been found that our first 

 plantations of tobacco were made on that part of the Station which is the least 

 fertile. A fairly heavy dressing of fertilizer in the late spring did not make up for 

 the lack of preparation of the soil. The summer was rainy and cold, and the 

 unfavourable conditions of the season were completed by a hail storm on the 14th of 

 August. The tobacco plants had thrown out roots while covered with water, so to 

 speak; their development was very feeble, and the terminal buds appeared before the 

 usual number of leaves could form. It was necessary, then, to top the plant to a 

 lesser number of leaves, especially in the case of the Bresil and the Rusticas, which 

 lessened the yield considerably, in certain cases reducing it by almost one-half. The 

 varieties tried were the following: Big Ohio x Sumatra, Yamaska, Havana Seed Leaf, 

 2 Bresils, Comstock Spanish, Bakoum, Blue Makhorka and Cuban. 



SEEDLINGS. 



The beds for these were got ready on the 12th and 13th of April on the farm of 

 Mr. E. L. Lorquet, whose son was engaged on the Station as foreman. In spite of 

 cold weather and the haste with which the material for the beds had been got together, 

 the seedlings grew quite well. The semi-hotbed was used, made on a foundation of 

 tobacco stems. Unfortunately, on account of the delay occasioned by the preparation 

 of the land, the seed plants could not be used at the proper time. It was necessary, 

 in some cases, to keep them in cellars from eight to ten days, having allowed them 

 to remain in the beds as long as possible. Under such conditions, one could not 

 expect the usual good results and a normal growth after transplanting. The plants 

 from the weakened seedlings were the first to come to flower, and carried the fewest 

 leaves. The destruction caused by insects was considerable. On these dirty lands, 

 parts of which had not been cultivated for twenty years, the cutworms and the 

 moths swarmed. During some two weeks three men were employed almost exclusively 

 in replacing destroyed plants. One plot had to be harrowed up and replanted 

 completely. 



The Big Ohio x Sumatra, alone, presented in some degree a normal appearance. 

 All the other varieties gave only half a crop. 



The hanging of the tobacco in the curing barn took place during a rainy period, 

 one might almost say between showers. It was finished on September 26, that is to 

 say two weeks later than in a normal year. 



The curing process took place in a normal way, although the humidity which 

 prevailed at the time of the harvest had retarded the wilting and the yellowing of 

 the leaves, and had exposed the product to dangerous fermentation. 



After harvest, the plots which had been in tobacco were worked up, as well as 

 the rest of the farm. Manure at the rate of 20 tons per arpent was applied to that 

 part intended for tobacco in 1913. The necessary arrangements were made for 

 carrying off the water in the spring. The levelling of the land was corrected, the ditches 

 cleared out. As chemical analysis had shown, the soil on the Tobacco Station at 

 Farnham is not exhausted; on the contrary, it presents all the indications of average 

 fertility. It is a case of a farm left too long in fallow. It has become covered with 

 an old and dirty sod, under which all microbe life seems to have disappeared. A 

 better preparation of the land than that which we had time to make this spring, 

 together with a light application of chemical fertilize/, along with a better and 

 warmer season, will perhaps enable us to restore this soil. h\ any event the attempt 

 will be made along the above lines. 



BUILDINGS. 



The buildings on the farm at the time of taking possession were in such a state 

 of decay that they were hardly fit for use as a temporary shelter for machinery. It 

 was necessary to build a curing barn at once. This is of capacity to hold, in a normal 



