Tohacco Manuring Esperiments. *tGo 



fertility. The meclianical analysis discloses a texture indicating no 

 very high retentive power for water, and therefore not adapted for 

 the production of the heaviest types of leaf. The clay content, how- 

 ever, is higher than that of American soils producing the finest types 

 of light yellow tobaccoes. As, however, the type of a tobacco is the 

 resultant of climatic as well as soil conditions, no reliable opinions as 

 to specific adaptability can be formed l)y comparing the composition 

 of a soil on one side of the world with that on the other ; in fact, the 

 determinative influences of climate on the tobacco plant have been 

 shown to be " so subtle as to fail detection by even meteorological 

 instruments." We must find that answer from the plant itself. 



The Chemical Composition op the Soil in Kelation to 

 THE Tobacco Plant. 



No plant is so profoundly aifected by soil characteristics as 

 tobacco, bvit it is rather to physical character of soil than to chemical 

 composition that we must ascribe the paramount influence exerted on 

 the physiology of the plant. To quote Whitney again, " It is practi- 

 cally true of tobacco, to a greater extent perhaps than of any other crop, 

 that the texture and physical properties of the soil influence the physi- 

 ology of the plant to such an extent, as to determine and control the 

 distribution of the widely differing distinct types of tobacco. Soils 

 producing a heavy shipping tobacco will not produce fine tobacco of 

 any variety. Soils, containing a large proportion of clay, or wliich 

 for other reasons are very retentive of moisture, tend to produce large 

 heavy plants which cure to a dark brown or red. A lighter sandy 

 soil produces a plant having a thinner and more delicate leaf, which, 

 by proper treatment, can be cured to a bright red mahogany or fine 

 yellow colour. So marked is this influence of soil upon the quality of 

 tobacco, that a fine bright tobacco land may be separated by only a 

 few feet from a heavy clay soil wliich will produce only a heavy 

 manufacturing or export leaf." 



Although the paramount influence of the physical composition of a 

 soil is clearly recognised, the chemical composition also cannot escape 

 consideration. A knowledge of this, by revealing deficiency or over 

 abundance in a particular plant food, may suggest means, by 

 fertilization on one side or the reduction of " raging fertility"^ on 

 the other, of so bringing soils under control as to exercise a decided 

 improvement on the quality of the product. The very great difference 

 in chemical composition of soils, producing different types of tobacco 

 in their greatest excellence, will become apparent on comparing the 

 results of the analysis of two American soils, one a Kentucky, amous 

 for the growth of White Burley, and the other from North Carolina, 

 where it is said the higher grade of yellow tobacco is produced. It 

 will be seen that the first soil, producing the heavy tobacco, is of a 

 high fertility, while the other, on which the highest grade of yellow 

 tobacco has'been grown, might be considered very infertile. In fact 

 the poverty of the soil seems a requirement in the attainment of 

 excellence of quality in this class of leaf, and this fact has converted 

 the abandoned soils of North Carolina and Virginia into lands of a 

 hio-h ao-ricultural value. It will be of interest to compare the results 



