92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



or light. We sold our crops easily enough, though wo did 

 not get a very hig price for thcui. ^\'c had no tiMuhle then 

 al^out mold, or any of these questions that have come up 

 recently. Now, we tobacco growers want a better price for 

 our crops, and the smokers want just what they fancy in the 

 wra]:»])er, and Avill take the cigar that suits them in color 

 and appearance, regardless of what is inside it. So we must 

 keep on studying and trying to find something that the trade 

 wants. 



Mr. WiiiTMORE. I am having trouble with root rot for 

 the first time. I have been advised to sterilize the seed 

 beds. Is it a safe proposition to depend on the old seed 

 beds when sterilized, or should I seek a new location? 



Dr. Garner. The troulde can be controlled for the time 

 being by sterilization, without changing the seed beds. 

 AMiether they should be sterilized every year we do not know. 

 It would certainly be safer to sterilize every year. The 

 work must be done thoroughly. Use plenty of time and 

 plenty of steam. The little organisms that cause root rot 

 are simply little plants which can be killed by heat the same 

 as a tobacco plant would be. If we take a fresh potato and 

 bury it from three to six inches deep in the seed bed, and 

 after sterilization find that the potato is cooked, we are 

 pretty safe in saying that the minute organisms have been 

 killed also. Perhaps more heat is required to kill the minute 

 organisms tban to cook the potato, because we must kill 

 the spores which reproduce these organisms as well as the 

 organisms themselves. You mnst nse steam nnder high 

 pressure, and give plenty of time for the soil to be heated 

 deep enough to reach them. The apparatus used is very 

 simple; an inverted metal pan, made the width of the seed 

 bed and the other dimensions regulated by the size of the 

 boiler you have to work with. The sharp edges of the pan 

 are driven into the soil to a reasonable depth to hold the 

 steam in, the steam turned on under high pressure, at least 

 90 pounds, and the heating continued for not less than thirty 

 minutes, preferably an hour. It is also a good plan to have 

 bnrbi]) or some other covering to lay over the portion that 



