IV. CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE TYPES. 



MoRPHOLOCaCAL CHARACTERS. 



The study of the characters of this group of tobaccos is not 

 an easy matter. We have to deal with a plant which adapts 

 itself in the most remarkable and intimate manner to the method 

 of cultivation, to the available moisture and to the food materials 

 in the soil, giving rise, according to circumstances, to everj^ grada- 

 tion of crop from small starved specimens to rank overgrown 

 plants. The types, however, breed true even to the most minute 

 morphological characters. In order to appreciate the differences 

 between the types it is best to study them in normally developed 

 specimens such as are produced when the supply of moisture and 

 manure is carefully regulated. Another difficulty lies in express- 

 ing accurately on paper the differences between the various t3'pes. 

 The differences are principall}^ of degree only and are largel}^ 

 bound up with the habit of the plant and the characters of the 

 leaves such as the tone of colour and texture. Many of these 

 differences are too subtle to be expressed by an ordinary botanical 

 description, and to appreciate them thoroughly it is necessary 

 to study the plants themselves grown side by side. 



(«) Habit. — The differences in habit of the types are due to 

 the length of the in tern odes and also depend on the inflorescence, 

 which may be raised well above the leaves or contracted. The 

 height of the plants, of course, varies with the general condition 

 of nuti'ition. In the 11)09 crop, the height of the smallest t3^pe 

 was 5!) cms., that of the tallest 142 cms. The measurements 

 are taken after the early capsules are formed. The habit 

 is the most distinctive character of the type, but one that 

 is difficult to describe adequately. It is well seen in the 

 photographs. 



