3 6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



LONG STAPLE COTTON 



One of the greatest needs in improv- 

 ing the cotton industry in the United 

 States has been to secure a long staple 

 upland variety of good quality and pro- 

 ductiveness. Several varieties of the 

 ideal type have been produced, and the 

 past year's experiments show conclu- 

 sively that these varieties can be made 

 permanent. Egypt and South Africa 

 are waking up to their possibilities in 

 cotton production, and we must develop 

 and grow better and more productive 

 varieties than will be grown by our 

 competitors. 



AMERICAN TEA 



The work on the growing of Ameri- 

 can tea was continued during the year 

 at Pinehurst, near Summerville, S. C, 

 in cooperation with Dr Shepard. There 

 are now about ioo acres in tea gardens. 

 The yield of tea in these gardens last 

 year was about 4,500 pounds and this 

 year will be about 9,000 pounds of mar- 

 ketable tea. During the year careful 

 attention was given to reducing the cost 

 of the production of tea, with very sat- 

 isfactory results. A tea farm will be 

 established in Texas if suitable land and 

 cooperation can be secured. 



LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 



Statistics of attendance at the land- 

 grant colleges show over 42,000 students 

 enrolled, an increase over the previous 

 year of 7 per cent. The attendance for 

 the four-year course in agriculture in- 

 creased more than 26 per cent. The 

 Secretary points to the marked success 

 of agricultural high schools in Min- 

 nesota and Nebraska as an indication 

 that there is a demand for agricultural 

 courses with those afforded in various 

 manual arts in the city high schools. 

 He states that all over the country 

 farmers are sending their children to 

 public high schools and paying for their 

 tuition. 



GROWING SUMATRA TOBACCO 



The commercial success of the shade- 

 grown Sumatra tobacco in the Connect- 

 icut Valley has now been fully assured, 

 and the plan adopted by which last 

 year's crop, after being carefully cured 

 and sorted under the direction of the 

 department's experts, was catalogued 

 and offered for sale at public auction , 

 under the supervision of the committee 

 of tobacco brokers, with Hon. E. Stevens 

 Henry, M. C, as chairman, proved 

 highly satisfactory. The ordinary to- 

 bacco grown in the open fields in Con- 

 necticut brings from 18 to 20 cents a 

 pound. The average price paid for the 

 shade-grown tobacco was $1 . 20 a pound. 

 The cost of this tobacco, baled and 

 ready for market, averaged 51 j4 cents 

 a pound. The net profit per acre on 

 the best crop raised on a lot of about 

 six acres exceeded $1,000 per acre. 

 The reports from cigar manufacturers 

 show that the leaf of this Connecticut, 

 grown Sumatra tobacco has successfully 

 stood the test of manufacture. 



At the present time the department 

 is advising and instructing thirty-eight 

 growers in Connecticut and Massachu- 

 setts cultivating 645 acres of shade to- 

 bacco. It may be said of this line of 

 department work that it has demon- 

 strated our ability to produce a leaf for 

 which about $6,000,000 have annually 

 been paid to foreign countries. 



The tobacco situation in Texas and 

 Ohio has been thoroughly studied with 

 a view to the production of a desirable 

 type of filler tobacco equal to the im- 

 ported Cuban leaf, and it is believed 

 that by careful methods of cultivation, 

 fermentation, and assorting this can be 

 done. In fact, leaf has actually been 

 grown that cannot be distinguished 

 from the imported Cuban when prop- 

 erly fermented. 



EXPORTS OF FRUIT 

 He reports investigations having for 



