No. 4.] TOBACCO GROWING. 33 



clare that they would not use stable manure on tobacco, if 

 it cost them nothing to use it ; others would use nothing else, 

 if they could buy enough manure. 



In 1897 the only tobacco which remained green through 

 the growing season and ripened normally, while all other 

 tobacco in the field turned yellow and was certainly injured 

 by the excessive rainfall, was that grown on the plot which 

 annually for five years had been dressed with 10 to 12 

 cords of stable manure per acre. (Plot AA, the yield of 

 which was graded 13th, 1st, 17th and 3d in four suc- 

 cessive years.) 



Certain dealers refuse to buy crops from land on which 

 linseed meal was used. The result of our four years' tests 

 show no ground for this objection. 



Some growers believe that castor pomace is greatly su- 

 perior to cotton-seed meal as a fertilizer ; others condemn 

 pomace. Yet careful comparison for five years fails to show 

 any great difference in their effects. The summary already 

 given shows other illustrations of the fact that on this soil, 

 typical of much of our tobacco land, careful experiments, 

 managed by a skilful and successful grower, and with all 

 facilities for accurate work, do not justify many of the opin- 

 ions of growers and dealers regarding the effects of different 

 forms of plant food on the quality of wrapper tobacco. 



It is doubtless true of tobacco, as of other crops, that the 

 liberal but not greatly excessive supply of readily available 

 plant food yearly required to insure a paying crop may be 

 given in a variety of forms, with equally good results on the 

 average of one season with another, and that indeed occa- 

 sional changes in the form of nitrogen and potash supplied 

 may be a distinct advantage ; avoiding always any consid- 

 erable quantity of those things — chlorine and sulphuric or 

 other free acids — which experience has shown may damage 

 the leaf. 



Before leaving the subject of fertilizers, a word might be 

 said regarding the way to put them on. Shall we plough 

 them in lightly, or harrow and cultivate them in? We have 

 tried both ways, have been successful with both and have 

 failed with both ; and our experience is an epitome of that 

 of all growers, I think. 



