Hayes: Tobacco Mutations 



77 



produced and all plants blossomed early 

 in October. It seems very likely that a 

 change in conditions ma\' cause the 

 plants to blossom. 



OTHER MUTANTS FOUND. 



The normal Cuban seed which was 

 saved in 1910 was again used for plant- 

 ing in 1913 and 1914, and over 350 

 acres, or two and a half million plants, 

 were grown. Although search was 

 made at the Windsor Tobacco Growers' 

 Corporation, which grows over 200 

 acres, no mutating plants were found. 

 Several plants were, however, reported 

 from other plantations where the 1910 

 Windsor Tobacco Corporation seed was 

 used, which presented the same habit 

 of producing a large leaf number. As 

 all plants of this new type came from 

 the same seed, it can not be stated that 

 they did not come from a single normal 

 plant. 



Alutations of high leaf nvraiber have 

 been observed in tobacco previous to 

 this time. Several years ago a variant 

 with a large leaf number was found in 

 the outdoor Havana type at the farm 

 of Mr. Alsop in Avon, and in 1912 two 

 Havana plants which bore a large 

 number of leaves were found at the 

 Olds Brothers' plantation in Bloom- 

 field. One other similar plant was 

 found by another Bloomfield farmer. 



The Olds Brothers' Havana sport 

 found in 1912 has now been tested, 

 about five hundred plants of this type 

 being grown in 1914. All bred true 

 and none showed signs of a blossom 

 during the normal growing season. 



It is of interest that these mutations 

 have occurred in a variety, the Con- 

 necticut Havana, which has been grown 

 in Connecticut for a period of over 50 

 years and which is of uniform habit. 

 That it has been observed in different 

 sections and by different growers shows 

 that the same mutation must have 

 taken place several times. In all of the 



- The "priming method" of harvesting a tobacco crop is a recognition of the fact that the 

 lower leaves of a plant ripen before the upper leaves. In it, four or five pickings are usually- 

 made: at the first one three or four leaves are taken, at the second five to seven, the same 

 number at the third picking, and all remaining leaves at the fourth picking, when only four are 

 made. The method was introduced into Connecticut with the culture of tobacco under cheese- 

 cloth cover, and the entire crop (over 2,000 acres) of tobacco grown under cover in the Con- 

 necticut valley is harvested by priming; most of the tobacco grown outdoors is still harvested 

 by the old method of cutting the entire plant close to the ground. 



above examples the mutation has only 

 appeared for a single generation. 



Recently, however, we have learned 

 of a constantly recurring mutation for 

 large leaf number which has been ob- 

 served and studied by L. A. Clapp, a 

 tobacco farmer of Windsor. Mr. Clapp 

 grew 24 acres of Connecticut Havana 

 in 1912 from seed which he saved in 

 1911 from normal Havana plants. The 

 Havana, as is the case with Cuban, 

 produces from 14 to 25 leaves on the 

 main stem before blossoming. During 

 the work of harvesting his crop by the 

 priming method, = Mr. Clapp observed 

 six plants which had not produced a 

 blossom and which bore a large number 

 of unpicked leaves. Thirty-six leaves 

 from one of these plants were harvested, 

 strung on a single lath and, after being 

 cured, were examined by a tobacco 

 buyer, who was very much pleased 

 with their qualit}'. 



This interested Mr. Clapp, who 

 examined his 24 acre field in 1913, 

 which he grew from seed saved from 

 normal plants of his 1912 crop. After 

 careful search, a dozen plants of the 

 many-leaved type were found. One of 

 these was transplanted and taken to a 

 greenhouse. It blossomed during the 

 winter and some seed was obtained. 

 Mr. Clapp grew about 500 plants of this 

 type in 1914 and all bred true to the 

 new habit. 



24 acres of the normal Havana 

 were grown in 1914 from seed saved 

 from normal 1913 plants and, while no 

 careful counts were made, Mr. Clapp 

 observed about 50 plants of the many- 

 leaved type. 



These mutations can hardly be ex- 

 plained as the result of accidental 

 crosses. A large series of crosses have 

 been made in Connecticut, and, as a 

 rule, there has been some increase of 

 variability for leaf number in the second 

 hybrid generation. In no case have we 

 obtained types which exhibit this pe- 



