The Bulletin. 53 



of the plant. And so the systematic breeder goes on, selecting here and there 

 a proniisiuf; specimen, malcing in the aggregate a very large numiter of 

 selections— hundreds, perhaps — well knowing that his ultimate chances for 

 success are greatly increased by so doing. He saves seed from each of these 

 plants uniler bag, to prevent any crossing from one to the other or with less 

 desirable plants. The next spring, he will plant tlie seed from each plant 

 separately in the seed bed, and when large enough will set, perhaps, a single 

 row of each sort of about one hundred plants each, side by side on a well- 

 prepared, uniform piece of land. 



After careful observation of these progeny rows in the test plots during the 

 growing season, it will probably be found that some of the parent i)lants were 

 superior to others in their power to transmit to their offspring their own 

 desirable qualities. A few of the more promising progeny rows will be chosen 

 in turn for testing again, and for this purpose a few of the best plants in the 

 chosen rows will be selected for seed, and the remainder topped and handled 

 in the same manner as in an ordinary commercial field. Notes will again be 

 taken of the plants as they appear in the field, and also in regard to the 

 yield, quality and other commercial points of the cured product. 



This process of culling and selection should be kept up for three or more 

 generations, in order to establish "blood lines" of a prepotent and substantial 

 character. 



In breeding it is usually best to center the attention on one primary object 

 at a time, paying only enough attention to other points of quality, etc., not to 

 let them fall below pai-. After improvement in this central motive has be- 

 come established, then the attention may be successively turned to improve- 

 ments in other directions. 



PREPAKATIO¥ OF PLANT BEDS AND FERTILIZATION 



OF TOBACCO. 



By W. A. PETREE, Stokes County. 



According to the progi'am, I suppose that I am expected "to discuss the pre- 

 paration of plant beds and fertilization of tobacco. There are various ways 

 to do these things, and before we decide to do them in any certain way we 

 should consider the cost involved and also the benefits to be derived from doing 

 them in that particular way. Up in our country, until within the last two or 

 three years, the most common and by far the most expensive way of preparing 

 a seed-bed was that in which burning of the land was a part of the prepara- 

 tion. But I do not favor this method, and shall say but little about it other 

 than to discourage its use, especially in sections where wood is scarce, for 

 burning does not add any fertility to the land, only the ashes of wood con- 

 sumed, and the plant food in the ashes can be supplied more cheaply in some 

 other way. Burning involves too much cost, not only in the way of wood, time 

 and labor, but the humus or organic matter is burned out of the soil, its 

 nitrogen driven off and the land is left poorer than it was before and requires 

 more manure and fertilizer to make a good crop of plants than it would had 

 it not been burned. It is true, however, that burning does destroy the weed 

 and grass seed in the land, but this can be done more cheaply in another way, 

 of which I shall now tell you. And, by the way, it is a way by which I have 

 always been able to get a fine crop of turnips while preparing the land for my 

 plant beds. 



Just as soon as I can after wheat harvest, I go into my stubble field and 

 select a place on some good warm southern or southeastern slope of land, 

 neither too wet nor too dry for tobacco plants. I spread manure over it and 

 turn it under and then let it lie a few days until the weed and grass seed in 

 the land and manure sprout and begin to come up ; then I take a long bull- 

 tongue plow and plow the land good and deep twice, crossing the first plowing 

 with the second one. I let it lie a few days longer, or imtil more weed and 



