REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 129 



insects and diseases, and lack of understanding of the vital features 

 of successful curing, fermenting, and handling of the leaf. All of 

 these problems have been taken up. resulting in marked improvements 

 in the old methods of tobacco production. 



The old standard types have been improved by seed selection, and in 

 the Connecticut Valley, Maryland, and Ohio new types have been pro- 

 duced by breeding which are much more productive than the old 

 types. Desirable foreign varieties also have been successfully intro- 

 duced, such as the Sumatra and Cuban wrapper leaf and the filler 

 grown from Cuban seed. 



It has been clearly demonstrated that in most of the export and 

 manufacturing tobacco districts the continued growing of clean- 

 cultivated, humus-depleting crops on the tobacco lands, with little or 

 no attention given to soil-improving crops like the grasses and 

 legumes, combined with improper methods of fertilizing, is the 

 primary cause of the small yields of tobacco. 



A great deal of hay has been imported into these districts each 

 year, while practical demonstrations have shown that the growing 

 of grasses for hay is just what is most needed on these soils to obtain 

 the best results with tobacco. Our experiments and demonstrations 

 have shown beyond doubt that the yield and value of the tobacco crop 

 in these sections can easily be doubled by combining well-planned 

 systems of rotation with the use of the proper quantities and forms of 

 commercial fertilizers. It has also been shown that the growing of 

 winter cover crops is highly beneficial to tobacco. 



The fundamental principles of curing and fermenting have been 

 thoroughly studied and practical applications of the results of these 

 studies have been made in the cigar-wrapper leaf and flue-cured dis- 

 tricts with striking success. It has been shown that the diseases and 

 damage from other causes during the curing processes can be readily 

 controlled by proper methods. Among the field diseases of tobacco 

 which have been brought under control may be mentioned particu- 

 larly tobacco-root rot, which formerly did much damage in some 

 sections. 



The tobacco work of the last year has followed along the same 

 general lines as formerly. The work with the export types in Ken- 

 tucky has been extended into Tennessee, with headquarters at Clarks- 

 ville. The principal results obtained are the development of a very 

 promising new type for the broad-leaf district of the Connecticut 

 Valley, very large increases in yields of tobacco from improved 

 methods of fertilizing in New York State and from crop rotation 

 and fertilizer demonstrations in the manufacturing and export dis- 

 tricts, and effective demonstrations in improved methods of curing 

 in the flue-curing and in the Burley districts. 



70481°— AGB 1912 9 



