FIELD CROPS. 233 



alternately wet and dry, according to the sewage receivM, hut which contain 

 quantities of plant food far heyond the necessities of the plant. For general 

 agricultural purposes this variety is valuable on account of its resistance to 

 mildew and its yield in starch. It is believed that this violet variety of ;S'. 

 conimcrsoni is not identical with the Giant Blue potato, as is supposed by certain 

 investigators. 



Methods of reducing the cost of producing- beet sugar, C. O. Townsend 

 ( I . ,s'. J)('i)t. Agr. Yearbook 1906, pp. 265-278, pis. 2. fif/. 1). — In the discussion 

 of the subject the author suggests the following as means by which the cost of 

 beet-sugar production may be reduced : Increasing the tonnage withovit increas- 

 ing cost of production, improving the quality of the beets without additional 

 expense, improving the beet in size and quality or both at additional expense, 

 but in such ratio thai, the gain is greater than the outlay, providing a suffi- 

 cient quantity of suitable labor at the proper time so that the beets may be 

 kept growing without interruption, modifying the beet seed so as to render thin- 

 ning mniecessary, modifying the beet so that siloing for the factory will not be 

 required, devising machinery that will do away with hand labor, improving 

 farming methods and operations to reduce labor requirements, and improving 

 wagon roads and railroad facilities. 



New tobacco varieties, A. D, Shamel (C/. 8. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 1906, pp. 

 3S7~JfOJi, pis. Jf, figs. .)). — This article describes 4 varieties of cigar-wrapper 

 tobacco produced by the avithor in the tobacco breeding experiments of this 

 Department, and discusses the necessity of breeding experiments, methods of 

 breeding, testing new varieties, and the preservation of type. 



The 4 varieties described are Uncle Sam Sumatra, Hazlewood Cuban, Brewer 

 Hybrid, and Cooley Hybrid tobacco. Uncle Sam Sumatra is a selection from a 

 crop grown under cloth shade by M. L. Floyd in Connecticut in 190.3, and Hazle- 

 wood Cuban from a crop grown under cloth shade from imported Cuban seed 

 in the Connecticut Valley the same year. Of the type of Uncle Sam Sumatra 

 only 28 plants were found in a field of about 40 acres containing about 50,000 

 plants. Pure seed of 27 of these plants was planted in 1904 and the progeny 

 of every parent plant as grown in the test rows came uniformly true to type. 

 Tests of the pi'ogeny of individual plants were continued in 1904 and 1905, and 

 '• the results of these and other tests have proved beyond a doubt the value of 

 this variety for growing commercially, together with the fact that the seed 

 con)es true to type year after year when saved under bag." The plants reach an 

 average height of about 8 ft. at the time of maturity and bear an average of 

 about 20 leaves before topping. The cured leaves average about 16 in. in width 

 by 20 in. in length, and are especially adapted for eoouomical cigar-wrapper cut- 

 ting. The veins are small and fine and regularly arranged, and the burn is 

 excellent. 



In 1903, 5 distinct general types of tobacco were found in the crops grown from 

 Cuban seed and .340 i)lants of these types were kept for seed pi'oduction. this 

 seed being saved under bag. One of these types. No. 1.3, was especially desirable 

 from a practical standpoint, and .32 typical plants were found after a careful 

 examination of about 48 acres grown under shade. The seed of these plants, free 

 from cross-fertilization, was saved and tested the following year. The trans- 

 mitting power of the parent plants of the type was very marked, and the results 

 of these and later tests wei'e so satisfactory that limited quantities of seed of 

 the type were distributed under the varietal name of Hazlewood Cuban for use 

 in 1906. The plants of this variety under shade reach a height of about 7* ft. 

 at the time of maturity. The leaves have a partially erect habit of growth, 

 the seed production is comparatively small, and the time of maturity very early. 

 The average number of leaves per plant is about 21 after topping, and the yield 



