LXX REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



root development, which must be supplied frequently with water. 

 What can be done to prevent this tendenc}^ and to overcome the effect 

 of droughts is a subject of the utmost importance, and one which will 

 receive the attention it deserves. 



I know of no line of work which has been undertaken of more fun- 

 damental importance than the work of the division of soil manage- 

 ment, nor one which offers a promise of more valuable results to the 

 agricultural interests. When these fundamental problems have been 

 established the}' will give a reliable basis for the development of better 

 methods of cultivation, fertilization, and of cropping. 



Tobacco Investigations. 



Since my last report the commercial success of the shade-grown 

 Sumatra tobacco in the Connecticut Valley has been assured. Last 

 year 41 acres of shade were erected b}' 13 farmers, cooperating with 

 the Department of Agriculture, 35.88 acres of which were planted to 

 Sumatra and the rest to the ordinary Connecticut Habana seed tobacco. 

 The expenses of this work, amounting on an average to about $657 

 per acre, were borne by the farmers, the Department of Agriculture 

 exercising supervision over the work and directing all the operations. 

 The Department also reserved the right to offer the tobacco for sale, 

 for the purpose of ol)taining official information as to the commercial 

 value of the product, which it would have been impossible to obttiin 

 if the tobacco had been disposed of at private sale. Accordingly, 

 after it had been carefully cured and assorted under the direction of 

 the Department's experts, the tobacco was catalogued and offered for 

 sale at public auction at Hartford, Conn., on May 1, in accordance 

 with the wishes of the various growers. A committee of tobacco 

 brokers, with Hon. E. Stevens Henry, Congressman from the First 

 district of Connecticut, as chairman, was invited to cooperate with the 

 Department in the management of this sale. The committee consisted 

 of Messrs. M. E. Flaherty, New York; Steven G. Euth, New York; 

 S. M. Seymour, New York; Capt. Darius Ferry, New York; James 

 Ertheiler, New York, and Herman G. Vetterlein, Philadelphia. 



The committee took a great deal of interest in the work and rendered 

 very efficient services in the matter. Credit is due them for the time 

 and expense which they personally contributed in the interest of this 

 investigation and of the Connecticut growers. 



The tobacco was offered for sale at public auction from sworn sam- 

 ples. As each grower wanted to sell his crop independently of the 

 others, many of the bales bad mixed sizes and even mixed grades. 

 Furthermore, the leaf had not been tried by the manufacturers, and 

 there was some hesitancy in bidding on this account. This accounts 

 for the considerable variation in the price. It is estimated by the 

 Department's experts, as stated in Bulletin No. 20 of the Bureau of 

 Soils, that the tobacco cost on an average, baled and ready for market, 



