REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. _ 69 



heat into the curing shed has been clearly demonstrated, particularly 

 in connection with the new method of harvesting by picking the 

 leaves from the stalk, which is rapidly coming into use in the Con- 

 necticut Valley. 



In New York the Haynes type of tobacco as improved by careful 

 selection is rapidly supplanting other varieties grown for filler pur- 

 poses. In Ohio new types have been secured by five or six years* 

 systematic breeding which are more productive than the ordinary 

 Zimmer and Seedleaf varieties, and these are being grown com- 

 mercially this season for the first time. Similar Avork has been 

 carried on in Pennsylvania during the year, and a Farmers' Bulletin 

 outlining practical methods of growing tobacco in the State, with 

 suggestions for their improvement, has been issued. 



In the export and manufacturing districts of Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, experiments and demonstrations in the best use of fertilizers 

 and systems of crop rotation especially adapted to tobacco culture 

 have been continued. The development of improved types and 

 strains by breeding and selection and row-to-row variety tests has 

 received much attention. In Alaryland a variety developed from a 

 cross between Connecticut Broadleaf and a native Maryland tobacco 

 is showing marked superiorit}- in yield and size and is giving satisfac- 

 tion in the hands of a number of farmers. In Virginia local stations 

 have been maintained in the principal tobacco districts. 



A problem of vital importance to the tobacco industry of the so- 

 called " old belt " of Xorth Carolina, more particularly in Granville 

 County, is the control of the Granville wilt. This problem has been 

 taken up from the standpoints of breeding resistant varieties and of 

 developing S3'stems of rotation, fertilization, and cultivation which 

 will control the disease. In the " new belt " of eastern North Carolina 

 and South Carolina much complaint is heard from the trade as to the 

 poor burning qualities of the tobacco, and this matter is now being 

 investigated, mainly from the standpoint of improving the formulas 

 of the cf)mmercial fertilizers now used. 



In connection with the fertilizer experiments in the various tobacco 

 districts, tests are being made of the efficiency of some of the new 

 commercial sources of nitrogen, more particularly calcium cyanamid 

 and also of ammonium sulphate, for the various types of tobacco. 

 These tests are of special importance because of the high cost of such 

 standard nitrogenous tobacco fertilizers as cotton-seed meal. 



DRY-LAND AGRICULTURE INVESTIGATIONS. 



The results of the investigations in crop rotations and cultivation 

 methods in the Great Plains region east of the Rocky Mountains and 

 west of the ninety-eighth meridian have been of unusual value and 

 interest during the past season. Drought, more or less severe, has 



