42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Dr. Jenkins. That is a point we have not determined. 

 We have only been working at it for two years. We have a 

 barn in which we put the yield of two acres of tobacco, and 

 I think we burned in curing that about a cord and a half of 

 wood, but I presume we could have done it more economi- 

 cally than that. As to the number of lanterns, I cannot 

 give you any idea. 



Mr. Smith. How long do you keep up the heat ? 



Dr. Jenkins. Only during the time while the danger 

 exists. If you have a hot, foggy, muggy time, with no air 

 stirring, keep them burning until there is a change in the 

 weather, so that you can open up the barns. The lanterns 

 are a temporary make-shift. I have seen tobacco that looked 

 pretty ugly at night — just beginning to smell a little " off" 

 — brought into condition in twelve hours, so that it would be 

 all right, by putting these lanterns into the barns. We use 

 artificial heat in our experimental barn, and keep the heat 

 going nearly all the time. We do not recommend using it 

 as a substitute for good air, but to supplement the air and 

 sunlight and keep a Florida climate in the barn all the time, 

 whether it rains or shines outside. 



Prof. C. H. Fernald (of Amherst). Do you have any 

 trouble with tobacco insects ? 



Dr. Jenkins. Yes, we are troubled with insects of all 

 sorts. Even in curing by artificial heat the insects trouble 

 us. I slept in a tobacco barn a week to watch the tobacco, 

 and I was troubled with the long green " Polander" worm 

 that drops down into your ears while you sleep. We have 

 had continual trouble with cut-worms, and have tried various 

 things to get rid of them. One year we had good results by 

 keeping the land clear of weeds, and within ten days of set- 

 ting we gave the worms a big Thanksgiving feast. We took 

 about five hundred pounds of bran and five pounds of Paris 

 green and stirred them up and made a Paris green mash, 

 and then sent a boy over the field — it had been rowed out — 

 to drop handfuls, a pace or two apart, on the tobacco rows. 

 The worms took to the food and we killed thousands of them. 

 We set our tobacco within a few days, and were not troubled 

 at all with cut-worms. Since then our man has tried the 

 same thinff, and it has not succeeded as well. I wish you 



