10 ^FASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN ^79, 



At the peak of the season on September 20, 140 farmers' trucks were 

 on the market. The low point was on July 16 with 17 trucks. The 

 market was most heavily patronized on Friday night, with the other days 

 of the week in the following order: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and 

 Tuesdaj^ 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY 

 Walter S. Eisenmenger in Charge 



Tobacco Projects. (Walter S. Eisenmenger and Karol J. Kucinski.) 

 It has been found that when plants of high lignin content are grown 

 during the year preceding tobacco, the succeeding crop of tobacco is more 

 likely to be afifected by the so-called brown root-rot. The ligneous ma- 

 terial, instead of being itself a specific cause of trouble, apparently encour- 

 ages a class of decomposing organisms which are conducive to injury 

 of the crop. 



With the maturity of any seed plant the lignin content increases. Dur- 

 ing the past two years twelve different crops were sown at three diflferent 

 periods at about four-week intervals. The earliest plantings of these crops 

 were completely ripe; the second, less ripe; and the third, still in the 

 succulent stage when freezing weather came. 



When tobacco was grown the following year on these variously treated 

 plots, it was apparent that the tobacco grown after the completely mature 

 crop was inferior to tobacco grown after the less mature crop, and the 

 tobacco grown after the most immature plants was the best. 



In another phase of this investigation tobacco was grown following a 

 large number of plants. These various crops arrange themselves in the 

 following descending order based upon the three-year average of the crop 

 index of tobacco grown in rotation with them: sea weed (application), 

 squash, horseweed, red top, ragweed, Jerusalem artichoke, gladiolus, car- 

 rots, sweet clover, buckwheat, cabbage, turnip, wheat, tomatoes, rye, 

 Kentucky blue grass, millet, orchard grass, alfalfa, peppers, Sudan grass, 

 sorghum, and red clover. In general the various crops ranked about as 

 in other years in their effect upon yield and quality of tobacco. 



The Lignin and Methoxy Content of Some Common Crops. (Walter S. 

 Eisenmenger and John W. Hurdis.) It has been known for a long time 

 that during the active period of decompositon of plant tissue containing 

 large percentages of lignin, a retardation of growth and subsequent eco- 

 nomic loss result with some crops. This presence of large quantities of 

 lignin seems to interfere rather seriously with the tobacco crop. 



Twelve diflferent plants were chosen for study: Jerusalem artichoke, 

 barley, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, rape, rye, sorghum, Sudan grass, 

 timothy, and tobacco. Samples were harvested at three different periods 

 of maturity: first, when the crops were in a stage of rapid vegetative 

 growth; second, when they were nearing maturity, being in the dough 

 stage of seed development; and third, when they were mature. 



As the plants approached maturity, there was an increasing carbon 

 content, which, in conjunction with a decrease of total nitrogen, brought 

 about a widening of the carbon-nitrogen ratio. With maturity, an in- 

 crease in the methoxy content of the plants and in the methoxy content 

 of lignin accompanied their increasing lignin content, while the total ex- 



