II. THE STABILITY OF THE TYPE. 



" Improvements in methods of culture, curing and ferment- 

 ation have resulted in the production of tobacco having an 

 increased value, but the most important factor in the development 

 of more valuable tobaccos has been the production of improved 

 varieties by seed selection and breeding. The production of these 

 improved varieties adapted to local soil and climatic conditions 

 has made possible the rapid development of the industry and 

 enabled the United States in a comparatively short time to rank 

 as the foremost tobacco-producing country in the world. " (A. D. 

 Shamel and W. VV. Cobey, Tobacco breeding, Bulletin No. 96, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, 1907, p. 8.) 



Perhaps, no other factor in the production of high grade 

 tobacco is so important as uniformity in the crop both as regards 

 growth, and also as regards the type of plant grown. Unless 

 the crop ripens uniformly, the difficulties of harvesting and curing 

 are increased while a crop made up of several types of plant, 

 differing in the size, venation, shape and texture of the leaves, 

 increases the cost of sorting out the various grades for market. 

 The maintenance of the uniformity of any desirable type of tobacco 

 is therefore a matter of prime importance. 



While there is agreement on the question of the importance 

 and desirability of maintaining the type, nevertheless there is a 

 general idea in much of the literature on this crop, that the 

 uniformity of the type is easily disturbed by the introduction of 

 any particular kind into a new localit3^ The use of immature 

 seed, the application of heavy dressings of farmyard manure 

 and commercial fertilizers and a change of soil and climatic 

 conditions, particularly the taking of tobacco seed from southern 



