14 The I^ulletin. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that the Norfolk sand produces a 

 very high grade of cigar wrapper tobacco, but when this variety of 

 tobacco is grown on the Orangeburg clay it loses its superior qualities. 



Not only have the experiment stations ascertained that definite varie- 

 ties require definite soils but many practical farmers who have taken 

 the' trouble to keep careful notes tell me of similar experiences. I have 

 known two varieties of cotton, grown in the same field in which the soil 

 was all alike, one to outyii:ld tlie other a rbousand pounds of seed cotton 

 per acre, and that with identical cultivation and fertilization. The 

 same is true to a greater or less degree with com, wheat, and oats, and. 

 indeed, with all other plants whose actions in changed soil environments 

 it has been my privilege to study. It is common among farmers to hear 

 some man say the Early Rose potato gives him best results, while his 

 neighbor, just across the road, may say the Early Rose is all but worth- 

 less on his land. I have never found a case of such complexity of opin- 

 ion whei-e an examination did not reveal two distinct soil types. A 

 characteristic case of changed environment comes to mind. A few years 

 ago two brothers who had been making a splendid success growing pota- 

 toes on the high priced Wabash silt loam soil of the Kaw Valley, 

 Kansas, heard of cheap land in Texas and made a purchase of several 

 hundred acres of the soil known as the Orangeburg sand at Rockdale, 

 Texas. The natives of that section volunteered to advise these brothers 

 against such an attempt, saying they had never been able to grow any 

 variety of potato on that "kind of land." But the advice was not 

 heeded. The brothers brought their whole equippage with them from 

 the Kaw Valley and proceeded to plant their crop of potatoes. They 

 placed in the bank at Rockdale $5,000 with which to pay expenses. 

 When the crop was harvested their books showed a loss of $3,000, with 

 $2,000 of the original $5,000 in the bank. This they speedily drew out 

 and returned to Kaw Valley. There is, so far as I know, no variety of 

 potato well adapted to the Orangeburg sand, though one might easily be 

 developed. In this case there was a change of both soil and climate, but 

 a change of either one would have produced the same result. The broth- 

 ers gave but $10 an acre for their land, but it sells now, I am told, at 

 about $30 an acre, for peach culture, to which it is well suited. 



In his paper on the Modification of Cereal Crops by Change of En- 

 vironment, Prof. T. L. Lyon says: "It is desirable to breed a strain of 

 any cereal under, as nearly as possible, the conditions under which 

 it is to be grown. The more strongly bred a strain is the longer it will 

 retain its quality under the new environment. The better suited it is 

 for one set of conditions the more difficult it will be to adapt it to those 

 that are radically different." 



READJUSTMENT TO NEW ENVIRONMENTS. 



Since plant organisms are so profoundly influenced by every touch of 

 environmental condition it follows that when they are changed from one 

 environment to another they must, of necessity, undergo a corresponding 

 change in their physical characteristics; and this change must be more 

 or less pronounced according as the change of environment is great or 

 small. If the variety of plant has been thoroughly fixed by years of 



