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STUDIES IX INDIAN TOBACCOS. 



No. ;i THE INHERITANCE OF CHARACTERS IN NICOTIANA 



TABACUM, L. 



BY 



GABRIELLE L. C. HOWARD, m.a., 



Associate of Newnham College, Cambridge and Personal Assistant to the 



Imperial Economic Botanist. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



The chief direction in which the tobaccos of North-East 

 India can be improved is in the introduction of superior quaUty. 

 Many of the varieties at present growai give large yields and are, 

 in consequence, very profitable, but the cured leaf produced 

 from them is, as a rule, of very poor quality and is coarse, 

 deficient in texture, flavour and aroma. For this reason it can be 

 used for Indian consumption only, and, consequent^, fetches 

 a very low price. Improvements in the qualit}^ of tobacco 

 may be obtained in three ways : (1) by the discovery of new 

 methods of cultivation by which healthy gro\\i:h is promoted 

 and a larger yield and a better quality of leaf produced ; (2) b}^ 

 the introduction of improved methods of curing ; and (3) by 

 the growth of superior kinds. Some of the work done at Pusa 

 on the cultivation of tobacco has already been published.' - 

 The investigations on curing are still in progress and it is hoped 

 to publish shortly the results obtained. The present paper 

 deals entirely with the third aspect of the question and is a 



^ Howard & Howard, Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, Bot. Ser. 

 Vol. Ill, No. 1, 1910. 



* Howard, Agricultural Journal of India, Vol. Ill, 1912. 



