THE PRINCIPAL SOILS AND CROPS OF VIRGINIA xi 



tute and the Virginia Experiment Station (a department of 

 the Polytechnic Institute) constitute the headquarters fof 

 agricultural instruction and agricultural research in Vir- 

 ginia. There are several local Experiment Stations, re- 

 ceiving Federal or State support or both. 



TOBACCO IN VIRGINIA. 



BY MEADE FERGUSON, Ph. D., Bacteriologist, Virginia Board of 

 Health, and Formerly Professor of Bacteriology, 

 Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 



When the early colonists landed in Virginia, one of the 

 first things they learned from the Indians was the use and 

 cultivation of tobacco. 



Kinds of tobacco and tobacco regions. There are five 

 distinct qualities of tobacco produced in Virginia: dark 

 shipping ; red and colored shipping ; sun- and air-cured 

 fillers; bright yellow wrappers, smokers, and fillers; and 

 mahogany, flue-cured, manufacturing tobacco. These are 

 distinguished by differences in color, quality, body, and 

 flavor, which are the results of soil influence, modified by 

 curing and management. Generally the bright colored 

 tobacco is best grown on the sandier soils, while the dark 

 heavy tobacco is better suited to stronger land. 



There are four distinct tobacco belts in Virginia. These 

 are outlined and named on the map (Fig. 218) as follows : 

 (i). The sun- or air-cured tobacco belt, in the northeastern 

 part of the State; (2) the English stemming belt, a very 

 small area where the tobacco is cured by open fires more 



