TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



gam in quantity is offset by loss in quality". The peculiarities in chemical composition which especially distinguish 

 these varieties are chiefly, as will be seen from the analyses on Table I, the larger proportion of cellulose, pectic 

 acid, and mineral ingredients, and the smaller proportion of fatty or resinous substances and nicotine. The 

 difference between the two samples of Connecticut Seed-Leaf, Nos. 30 and 35, is very marked. Sample No. 30 r 

 which was grown upon sandy soil, agrees closely in composition with the other seed-leaf varieties ; whereas sample 

 No. 35, grown on rich and heavily manured loam (see soil analysis No. 1), approaches in its large percentage of 

 nicotine, relatively smaller percentage of cellulose, ash, and peetic acid, more closely to the "plug" than to the 

 seed-leaf class. 



Of all the samples analyzed, however, the sample of North Carolina "Bright Wrapper", No. 10, shows to the 

 most surprising extent the influence of the character of the soil on the composition of the plant. 



The soil on which this sample was grown was a light gray sand (see analysis, in Tables V and VI), containing. 

 as shown by the analysis, a surprisingly small proportion of the mineral constituents available for the nutrition of 

 the plant. On reference to the analysis on Table I, it will be seen that this tobacco contains little more than 

 one-half of the average amount of mineral ingredients contained in the other samples, the deficiency being, as will 

 be seen from Table III, especially noteworthy in the case of the lime, ferric oxide;, and sulphuric aeid. In the 

 matter of proximate organic constituents, the tobacco is especially rich in- carbo-hydrates, notably in glucose, which 

 reaches the unprecedented figure of 16.39 per cent. Equally remarkable is the deficiency in albuminoids, which 

 latter substances are present in little more than half of the average amount present in the other tobaccos. 



The views at present generally obtaining regarding the physiological processes attending the growth of the 

 plant, teach that the first organic substances formed in the leaves under the influence of light are, the carbo-hydrates, 

 starch, and glucose, and that these primary products are under the influence of the mineral ingredients absorbed 

 from the soil, then transformed through further metamorphosis into secondary products such as organic acids, and 

 with the co-operation of nitrogenous compounds (nitric acid and ammonia), also absorbed by the roots from the 

 soil into the albuminoids, and other nitrogenous constituents of the plant. The amount of nicotine in this sample 

 is greater than in any of the seed-leaf varieties, excepting only the sample No. 35, a fact that would indicate that 

 the small proportion of albuminoids is not due exclusively to deficiency in total nitrogen, but to the lack of those 

 mineral constituents which are essential for the transformation of the nitrogen into albuminoids. Noteworthy in 

 this connection is the deficiency in sulphuric acid, shown in Table III, a substance usually deemed prominent in 

 the formation of the albuminoids. 



It is of special interest in this connection to recall the results obtained by Scliloesiug (Comptefi-Rendux, xlix 

 p. 253), in his ingenious and beautiful experiments for the purpose of ascertaining the effects on the composition of 

 the plant of the reduction of the absorption of mineral ingredients by the roots, by retarding evaporation from the 

 leaves. Two tobacco plants, each of a dry weight of 8 grammes, were placed in pots. One pot was covered with 

 a, glass bell jar through which air was drawn at the rate of 500 liters in twenty-four hours. The plant in the other 

 pot was left freely exposed to the air. The plants developed into a healthy growth and each produced twelve 

 leaves. Plant No. 1, grown under the bell jar, possessed a dry weight of 48 grammes; plant No. 2, grown in the 

 open air, a dry weight of only 37.4 grammes. For every liter of water evaporated there was, iu the case of No. 1, 

 5.1, and in the case of No. 2 only 1.3 grammes increase of dry substance, while the gain in mineral substances in 

 No. 1 was 3.6, and 5.1 grammes in No. 2. The results of the analyses of the plants obtained in these experiments 

 are given in the following table : 



TABLB IV. ANALYSES OF TOBACCOS GROWN IN SCHLOESING'S EXPERIMENTS. 

 Percentage composition of leaves, dried at 100 C. 



Analyses of the ash of the whole plant. 



e<o6 



