FIELD CROPS. 947 



apart. At the present time a cheese-cloth shade is generally used. The author 

 states that to-day there are at least 700 acres under shade for tobacco growing in 

 Gadsden County, Florida, and Decatur County, Georgia. The principal advantages 

 of cloth covering over lath covering are the protection it affords against worms and 

 hail, the maintenance of a more even and higher temperature and the retention of 

 soil moisture. The method of overhead irrigation as practiced in connection with 

 tobacco culture under sha<le is described and figured. The curing and fermenting 

 of tobacco are considered at some length. 



A description is given of the tobacco experiments conducted in Connecticut, and 

 the general results are presented and discussed. The types of tobacco entering into 

 these experiments were Connecticut-Havana seed leaf and Sumatra. "In every 

 case the Connecticut-Havana was pronounced by both packers and manufacturers to 

 be the finest and most useful domestic wrapper leaf they had ever seen. The 

 Sumatra leaf was pronounced to be, however, far superior to the Connecticut- 

 Havana and quite equal in every way to the finest leaf imported from the island of 

 Sumatra." The material recpiired for shading an acre and its cost is given. The 

 results of this work have been previously noted from other sources {E. S. R., 13, 

 p. 133). 



The fermentation tests made in Pennsylvania were made in the fall of 1900 with 

 tobacco from the crop of 1898. This tobacco was made soft and pliable by means of 

 warm water and loosely piled into a bulk 6 ft. wide, 12 ft. long, and 6 ft. high in a 

 room kept at a temperature of about 75°. After 3 days when the temperature at the 

 center of the bulk had reached 135° the bulk was replied putting the tobacco at the 

 surface of the old bulk into the center. This bulk stood for 15 days, when "The 

 tobacco was thoroughly cured, dried out, and ready for packing, without the least 

 sign of black rot." Water applied to a lot of new tobacco caused black rot in 

 the bulk, but when bulked without being moistened, no loss occurred. The present 

 method of packing and fermenting cigar leaf tobacco in the Northern States is 

 briefly describetl. 



The growing of tobacco under shade in Connecticut, E. H. Jenkins {Con- 

 necticut State Sta. Bui. 137, pp. 20). — This bulletin briefly reviews the experiments on 

 the fertilization, curing, and fermentation of wrapper-leaf tobacco, conducted by the 

 station during the past 9 years, and reports in detail the work of growing an acre of 

 Sumatra tobacco under shade in 1901. The Sumatra seed required a higher heat for 

 germination and a higher temperature in the seed beds than the domestic leaf seed. 

 The extra cost incident to shading the crop and harvesting the leaf l)y picking, charg- 

 ing the first crop with 20 per cent of the cost of the frame and 40 per cent of the cost 

 of lath for hanging the tobacco, was $326.68 per acre. The initial outlay for this 

 experiment was $582.63 per acre. The entire yield of leaf about 2 months after cur- 

 ing weighed 1,171 ll)s. In a comparative test of shade-grown wrapper leaf 2.9 lbs. of 

 Havana seed leaf and a very small fraction over 3 lbs. of the Broadleaf were required 

 to wrap 1,000 cigars. At least 9 lbs. of Broadleaf were required for this same purpose 

 when the plants were grown without shade. The shaded Broadleaf was not as elas- 

 tic as that grown in the open. Sumatra grown without shade did not give encour- 

 aging results. It was noticed this season that topping the plants when in full flower 

 a few weeks before harvest, improved the crop and made it ripen more evenly on 

 the stalk. As compared with the product of the year before the leaf was much more 

 elastic, still, according to the author, a higher degree of elasticity would have been 

 preferable. The color of the leaf was rather dull. It was found that 1} lbs. of leaf 

 would wrap 1,000 cigars. Leaf cured on the stalk was lighter in color, but more 

 papery and less elastic than leaf picked or primed before curing. The prices at which 

 a portion of the crop was sold ranged from $1.40 to $2.50 per pound, the average 

 being $1.91. 



Report of the wheat experimentalist, W. Fakkeu and K. W. Pe.vcock {Ayr. 



27718— No. 10— (12 4 



