434 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUP.E. 



will permit. It is very desirable, however, to carry on the work at a 

 larger number of places and in cooperation with existing stations 

 wherever practicable. 



TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS. 

 GENERAL FEATURES OF THE WORK. 



Experiments and demonstrations in tobacco production, under the 

 direction of Dr. W. W. Garner, have been conducted in Kentucky, 

 Texas, and other States herein mentioned. The more general fea- 

 tures of the work are the improvement in yield and quality of the 

 crop by breeding and selection, combined with systematic variety 

 tests, experiments, and demonstrations in methods of fertilizing to- 

 bacco and in systems of crop rotation especially adapted to produce 

 maximum yields of tobacco consistent with the necessary quality of 

 the product. In connection with the breeding work a study is made 

 of the effects of environment on the growth and development of the 

 tobacco plant and on the quality of the cured leaf. 



Because of the fact that the tobacco industry is based on a large 

 nuuiber of distinct types, each requiring special methods of produc- 

 tion, temporaiy field stations are located in tlie principal districts, 

 and these stations furnish facilities for practical demonstrations of 

 improved methods which result from the direct local tests. The 

 more important problems are gradually being worked out and the 

 results placed directly before the tobacco growers in effective object 

 lessons. 



INVESTIGATIONS IN CIGAR-TOBACCO DISTRICTS. 



Work in the Connecticut Valley. — Important results are now 

 being obtained from the breeding investigations which have been in 

 progress during the past few years relating to definite principles and 

 methods applicable to the improvement of the standard varieties of 

 tobacco, and these results in part have been published. The practi- 

 cal work of developing a new type for the Broadleaf section has been 

 continued, and the original cross of Broadleaf on Sumatra is now in 

 the third generation. It has been demonstrated that the use of arti- 

 ficial heat during the curing of cigar-wrapper leaf not only prevents 

 damage from pole-sweat, but also gives better colors. 



Work in Neav York. — The fertilizer and crop-rotation experi- 

 ments in the Onondaga and Big Flats districts have demonstrated 

 that the yield of tobacco can be increased markedly by the proper 

 use of commercial fertilizers to supplement the stable manure, on 

 which growers have heretofore depended almost entirely. The use 

 of hairy vetch and other winter cover crops for tobacco lands has 

 given excellent results. 



Work in Pennsylvania. — The work of developing more productive 

 strains of Broadleaf for the Lancaster district has been continued, 

 and seed of the more promising strains has been placed in the hands 

 of growers. Tests during the past two years have shown that in- 

 creased yields can be obtained under proper conditions by topping 

 the plants higher than has been the custom. Coopei-ative experi- 

 ments to increase present yields of filler tobacco by the use of phos- 

 phates as supplemental to barnj^ard manure have been undertaken. 



