4 MASS. KXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 297 



and prepare (lie land lor bonntil'nl crops of srain and grass to follow,---." Ap- 

 parently, root-rots of tobacco were not known or were of no conseqnence In the 

 Connecticut Valley in those days (1S82). 



A generation later, with expansion of acreage, growers were coming to feel that 

 they could not afford to rotate tobacco w^ith other crops because of the much lower 

 return. However, some rotation of tobac(~o was practised. Root-rot diseases 

 were becoming common. Jenkins (11) in discussing the fertility problem in 1906 

 stated that some cropping system should be practiced which would permit more 

 organic matter to be incorporated in the soil. "1 believe a certain amount of 

 rotation would be of great advantage to us if we could afford it. .\t any rate, I 

 think, either liy cover crops or catch crops, or manure we should get more vegetable 

 matter into our tobacco soils." However, "down in Connecticut they say tobacco 

 improves the longer you grow it; a lot 40 years old raises better tobacco than at 

 first." Jenkins also stated, "it is a tradition that you get poor tobacco after corn," 

 but cases were known w here excellent tobacco was grown after this crop. 



Records show that manure was the principal fertilizing material used in the 

 growing of tobacco in this section for the first 50 years of its commercial culture. 

 This was supplemented more or less with such commercial fertilizers as were ob- 

 tainable. For e.xample, Lathrop and Stockbridge C15) in 1862 recommended 

 "at least 10 cords (25-30 tons) of good manure with 200 pountls of plaster sown 

 on after it (manure) is spread." Smith (17) in 1882 reconmiended the use of 

 25 cartloads of manure broadcast supplemented by 12 to 15 cartloads of manure 

 compost strewn in the furrow just prior to setting tobacco. He also cites the rec- 

 ord of a farmer who used 5 cor Is (12.5-15 tons) of manure supplemented with 1 

 ton of commercial fertilizer, and another who used no manure at all but 1.5 tons of 

 tobacco stems and 800 pounds of groimd bone. During the past 50 years, with a 

 less varied agriculture and consequent diminishing supply of stable manure, this 

 material has been used less and commercial fertilizers more. Many Connecticut 

 X'alley farmers now depend entirely on commercial fertilizers for tobacco culture 

 and use 3000 to 4000 pounds per acre. 



4"he use of cover crops in tobacco culture appears to have been started at about 

 the turn of the century. Largely on the basis of theory it was argued that by some 

 means organic matter should be supplied to take the place of the diminishing 

 manure supply. Since tobacco was most conunonly grown in continuous culture, 

 cover crops offered the best means of doing this. In addition to any possible soil 

 fertility value they were known to serve a useful purpose in checking wind and wa- 

 ter erosion of the soil and in conserving plant nutrients against loss by leaching. 

 The small grains, particularly rye and vetch were first used, followed later by a 

 quite extensive use of timothy. 



Is the Yielii of Tobacco Decreasing? 



lor the past decade or two tobacco farmers of Massachusetts ha\e rather gener- 

 ally believed that the level of production of tobacco per acre has been declining. 

 This question was treated with considerable detail by Chapman (7) in 1920. His 

 conclusion w-as that there was at that time "no justification for the statement that 

 the yield of tobacco of Massachusetts fields has been decreasing gradually for the 

 past ten years; but on the contrarj', in spite of the exceedingly low yield of 1915 

 the calculated average is being maintained." The calculated average was that 

 for the period 1870-1910, namely 1580 pounds. 



In view of the generally prevailing notion of declining yields, it is worth while to 

 consider the bearing on this question of yiekl data accumulated within the past 



