TOBACCO 253 



nitrogen. It is evident, therefore, that in Nature's 

 making nitrate from non-nitrate nitrogenous materials 

 there are certain losses of this valuable element, hence the 

 different efficiency values of the various nitrogen fertilizer 

 materials above quoted. 



The mere loss of a certain amount of nitrogen does 

 not represent all the evil. In the use of various low- 

 grade nitrogen fertilizers the speed with which the 

 nitrogen is made available depends almost entirely 

 upon weather conditions. At times, therefore, the supply 

 of nitrate nitrogen may be ample, but at other times it 

 may be almost absent, hence the plant food is supplied 

 irregularly and plant growth is accordingly irregular. 

 While with some crops this means no more than a short 

 crop, with tobacco it may mean not only a short crop, 

 but also a low grade of thickened leaf or too heavy ribs 

 and veins. 



Whilst nitrate of soda is the most efficient form of 

 nitrogenous fertilizer for tobacco, it must be used with 

 intelligence and care, just as high-powered locomotives 

 and all highly efficient things in the world require in- 

 telligent brains to handle them. 



Frequently special fertilizers are used for tobacco, and 

 in our Connecticut Valley all kinds of domestic and com- 

 mercial fertilizers are used. Peruvian guano, when it 

 could be secured pure, was doubtless one of the best, 

 since it imparted a remarkable fineness and colour to the 

 leaf. Saltpetre waste and ground bone have given good 

 results. All the natural or humus-carrying manures 

 should be thoroughly covered over, but it should be 

 remembered, however, that they provide only incomplete 

 plant food. 



Linseed and cotton-seed meals are in such demand 

 for feeding cattle that it is getting more and more diffi- 

 cult each season for tobacco planters to secure such 

 materials in quantity. Dried fish, being a coarse source 

 of nitrogen, is less used, being open to objection as 

 above indicated. 



On a very poor, sandy soil near Blackstone, Virginia, 

 where minimum crops of all kinds had been grown for 

 years, an experiment was carried on in growing tobacco 



