90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Dr. Garnee. As in curing, there is always room for a 

 great deal of judgment. In curing, you cannot say that 

 just so much heat must be applied every year and just so 

 much ventilation. The best we can do is to deal with the 

 implements used, and each one must make such use of them 

 as to get the best results possible from his particular crop. 



^Ir. Aetuur Hubbard. Would you advise top suckering? 



Dr. Garner. Theoretically it is desirable to leave the 

 top suckers. These suckers are not large enough to in any 

 way injure the bottom leaves, which are picked before the 

 suckers reach any considerable size. As a rule the top leaves 

 are too thick. The suckers tend to give a thinner leaf; 

 smaller, lighter and nearer being ripe. I have seen some 

 striking illustrations where the suckers were removed from 

 each alternate row. Where they were removed the top 

 leaves were probably half as large again as where the suckers 

 were not removed. I do not think there is any gain in that. 

 There is no use growing a large filler leaf when you can 

 grow a smaller wrapper leaf. 



The Chairman. We would like to hear from Mr. Whit- 

 more. 



Mr. F. L. WniTMORE. I have been thinking how very 

 confusing this must all be to a man who has never raised 

 tobacco. In thirty years I have never had trouble with pole 

 sweat except once. In the last two years we have had a 

 deficiency of 24 inches in the rainfall, and I suffer more 

 from that cause than from too much water. I have been 

 conducting some experiments under the direction of the 

 United vStates Department of Agriculture. Some of the 

 tobacco in these experiments is picked and some harvested 

 in the plant ; some is cured by the old process and some by 

 artificial heat. It is a very fussy business, but it has also 

 l)een extremely interesting and instructive. I hope that the 

 government will eventually have some important results from 

 these experiments. However, there are so many climatic 

 and other conditions to contend with which we cannot con- 

 trol, that what is good management one year may not be the 

 next. Finally, when we get the crop grown it may not suit 



