Seed ^^&a%atan4f 



a service to tobacco growers 



By WENDELL P. DITMER and WALDO C. LINCOLN, JR. 

 Seed Control Laboratory 



FROM CANADA to the tropics- 

 tobacco can grow almost any- 

 where, depending on the type of soil 

 and climatic conditions. 



Grown at first only on a small scale 

 in this country, the plant did not 

 become a valuable commercial crop 

 until the early eighteen hundreds. 

 Today the Connecticut Valley's spe- 

 cial shade-grown cigar wrapper to- 

 bacco is worth thousands of dollars. 



What is the place of the Massa- 

 chusetts State Seed Laboratory in 

 production of this valuable crop? 

 For many years the Laboratory has 

 cooperated with tobacco growers by 

 cleaning and testing their tobacco 

 seed for a small fee. 



Years ago when the need for such 

 a service was recognized, a cleaning 

 apparatus was devised that would 

 properly separate the chaff, dirt, 

 and immature seed from the good 

 mature seed. The importance of re- 

 moving immature seed is immeasur- 

 able because weak seedlings may be 

 a source of seedbed infection. 



After the seeds have been cleaned, 

 they are tested for germination to 

 determine the number of seeds that 

 will produce normal plants. With 

 this information the grower will 

 then know how thickly he should 

 sow the seed in his cold frame. 



The value of such a service is re- 

 flected in the 73 requests made by 

 growers last year to have samples of 

 their seed processed. 



Tobacco seeds before and offer cleaning. 



