II Sept.. 1911.] Tobacco Culture. 6o9> 



It is therefore advisable to begin with a plug tobacco and experiment 

 with cigar varieties in a small way until it is proved that good cigar leaf 

 can be grown. It must be remembered, too, that cigar tobaccoes entail more 

 labour than plug, owing to the additional treatments necessary and the 

 extra number of plants per acre there are to handle. 



Diseases and Pests. 



Fortunately, the Victorian tobacco grower is not assailed by diseases- 

 and pests to the same extent as the American, though as time progresses 

 some of them will probably be introduced. The fact that the seed is used 

 in comparatively small quantities and is kept in sealed jars will tend to 

 minimize the introduction of diseases and pests. Our drier atmosphere is 

 not so conducive to the worst diseases that American growers have to 

 combat — and that factor will save us much trouble. 



Up to the present, our worst enemy has undoubtedly been the disease 

 known locally as Blue Mould {H yoscyami perenospora), a fungoid growth 

 that attacks the young plants in the nurseries generally before they are 

 ready for transplanting. It is worse in or after wet season.s when the 

 first Avarmth of spring is felt (Rusty seasons for wheat are generally bad 

 for Blue Mould). It makes its appearance in the initial stages, under the 

 leaf of the plant, in small round spots the size of a threepenny piece. 

 These, on examination, are seen to be covered with a grey-blue mould, 

 hardly discernable to the naked eye and resembling a light fur. If not 

 checked by natural or other cau.ses, the spots increase rapidly in size and 

 the plant dies in five or six days.' In some cases, a mild attack only takes 

 place and the plant recovers. When a fresh growth of the heart and root 

 takes place, the plants can be put out with safety, but if no fresh growth 

 is made the labour of transplanting will be wasted. A test is often made 

 by pulling up a few plants and cutting across the stem just above the 

 roots and below the leaves. If a black ring is found right round the 

 plant just inside the bark, the plants should be abandoned ; if the ring 

 is faint, or only partially round the plant and the fresh growth spoken 

 of can be discerned, they can be put out in the field. Cold changes fol- 

 lowed by muggy weather are conducive to this disease and care should be 

 taken during such weather to give as little water as possible. The frame 

 beds protect the plants from the wind and maintain a more uniform tem- 

 perature than the open beds and are to be recommended for this reason. 

 They also prevent the loss of moisture by evaporation and so save the 

 necessity for watering to the same extent as is necessary with open beds. 



Various methods of treatments for the prevention and cure of this 

 disease have been tried but no specific cure has yet been found. Lime, 

 sulphur, Bordeaux mixture, and other sprays have proved of little effect. 

 Treating the soil with steam carbon bi-sulphide and formalin has .shown 

 slight results, but if persisted in will kill the plants. Fumigations with 

 sulphur and formaldehyde candles have also checked the disease in the 

 early stages, but have no good effect in a bad case. 



The most successful method yet employed is in sowing relays of beds 

 at monthlv intervals from August to November, so as to have beds coming 

 on that will probably miss the critical time for the moist season. Plants 

 will \w- obtained more quickly from l:>eds .sown late than from the early 

 beds — in many cases, in six weeks; and, if transplanted l^efore the end 

 of the year, will produce a crop. As a matter of fact, the late planted 

 crop, though returning a lighter yield, will give far less work in working 

 the land, weeding, &c. ; also, the quality of the leaf from the late crop is- 



