ANNUAL REPORT, 1935 13 



Fine Turf Grasses. (L. S. Dickinson. ) All the fine-turf plots have been 

 abandoned and either plowed under or transferred to a regularly used putting 

 green where observations are being made as to the behavior of certain varieties 

 of bent grass under actual playing conditions. 



One project has been completed; To determine "the effectiveness of a 

 certain proprietary weedicide in controlling the chickweeds (Stellaria media and 

 Cerastium vulgatum ) in fine turf." It was found that the weedicide was effective 

 in a concentration of 1-100 applied at the rate of one gallon per 1,250 square 

 feet. The grass was injured but recovered within reasonable time. 



COOPERATIVE TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS 

 Conducted by the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, in Cooperation with the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



C. V. Kightlinger, U.S.D.A., in Charge 



Black Root-Rot. (C. V. Kightlinger.) Fifteen strains of Havana Seed 

 tobacco were tested comparatively in the field in 1934 (the fifth year of the 

 investigation) in continuation of the attempt to find strains which may be 

 satisfactory under Connecticut Valley conditions for resistance to black root- 

 rot and for type of plant, type and quality of leaf, gross producing capacity, 

 and such other properties as may be necessary in order that the strains may 

 be acceptable to producers and to manufacturers. 



Two strains of Havana Seed tobacco which possess between them, in accept- 

 able degrees, those characteristics which the new strains must possess in equal 

 or greater degrees in order to fulfill the objectives of the investigation were 

 grown for control purposes. One strain was Havana Seed of the sort that is 

 grown most commonly at present in the Connecticut Valley. When grown 

 under favorable conditions this strain is ordinarily acceptable for type of plant, 

 type and quality of leaf, and gross producing capacity. The tobacco produced 

 by this strain under favorable conditions is acceptable in general for the com- 

 mercial uses made of Havana Seed tobacco. However, like all other strains 

 of common Havana Seed tobacco, this strain is sufficiently susceptible to black 

 root-rot to make it unsatisfactory in most cases when grown under black root- 

 rot promoting conditions. The other strain was Havana Seed 142A3. This 

 strain, although not immune, is highly resistant to black root-rot, and ordi- 

 narily is acceptable for gross producing capacity under conditions which are 

 favorable to the development of the disease. It produces even more heavily 

 under black root-rot free conditions. Unfortunately this strain is not entirely 

 acceptable for type of plant or for type and quality of leaf, even when grown 

 under favorable conditions. The tobacco produced by this strain is not accept- 

 able in most cases to dealers and to manufacturers. 



The fifteen strains tested in 1934 consisted of several which had been previ- 

 ously used, together witn certain others grown for the first time in 1934. The old- 

 er strains had been found to possess desirable characteristics in considerable 

 degree and had been retained for further testing to more fully determine their 

 value. These fifteen strains consisted of one which had been grown ior the 

 first time in 1930, four in 1931, five in 1932, tnree in 1933, and two which 

 were grown for the first time. 



All of the strains and the controls were grown in small plot experiments: in 



