ANNUAL REPORT, 1944-45 7 



well as hired labor, increased only 38 percent while the efficiency of labor increased 

 18 percent as measured by man work units per man. The proportion of eggs sold 

 as hatching eggs was greatest in 1943 at 38 percent of all sales, compared to 26 

 percent in the other years. Retail egg sales remained uniform in quantity during 

 these years but the proportion of wholesale eggs was lower in 1943. Net farm 

 income was $2890, $4260, and $2940 per farm for these three years. Labor in- 

 come was $2370, $3715, and $2355, and there was an increase in investment 

 from 1942 to 1944 of $1300 per farm. Farm income was $3.53, $4.74, and $3.08 

 per hen on these farms. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY 

 Walter S. Eisenmenger in Charge 



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

 Brown Root Rot of Tobacco. The object of this project was to determine the 

 effect of the preceding crop on the yield and quality of tobacco. The various 

 preceding crops were planted at three different times. All of the first seeding 

 and some of the second matured; but none of the late seeding. All were plowed 

 under during the following spring when they had been quite completely dehy- 

 drated by alternate freezing and thawing. The tobacco crop following the more 

 mature of the preceding crops was not so good as that following the less mature 

 plants. Mature plants contain more lignin and compounds not readily decom- 

 posed by microorganisms. Of the many crops grown preceding tobacco, tobacco, 

 sunflowers, Jerusalem artichokes, and potatoes stand out most favorably; while 

 sorghum, sudan grass, and corn are frequently exceedingly unfavorable to the 

 tobacco crop. It is worthy of mention that the more favorable crops to precede 

 tobacco are members of the Compositae and Solanaceae families, while all of 

 the unfavorable ones belong to the Gramineae and Leguminosae families. 



Black Root Rot of Tobacco. (C. V. Knightlinger.) In work to improve Havana 

 Seed tobacco for use in the Connecticut Valley, new strains are being produced to 

 effect improvements over Havana Seed 211 and other strains produced thus far. 

 Some of the new strains are capable of producing high yields of tobacco of good 

 type and quality in soils infested with the organism that causes black root rot 

 as well as in soils relatively free from this organism. According to experimental 

 results obtained from small plot tests, some of the new strains seem to possess 

 improvements over Havana Seed 211 in type, quality, and habits of growth. 

 The strains are being tested commercially, and some of them seem to be very 

 promising. 



Brown Root Rot of Tobacco. (C. V. Kightlinger.) Brown root rot ordinarily 

 develops on tobacco that is grown immediately following certain other farm crops. 

 Frequently, however, the disease fails to develop under these conditions in the 

 Connecticut Valley. The cause of the disease and the reasons why at times it 

 fails to develop under seemingly favorable conditions are not well known. The 

 purpose of this project is threefold: first, to ascertain the effect on the develop- 

 ment of brown root rot of tobacco of the rate at which fertilizer is applied to the 

 preceding crop; second, to ascertain whether brown root rot will develop on 

 tobacco grown' continuously when less than the ordinary amounts of fertilizer 

 are used; and third, to study the effects that conditions of low fertility may have 

 on the root ailments of certain farm crops other than tobacco. 



Work on the project is still in the preliminary stage of preparing the soil for 

 fuller study of these objectives. 



