BULLETI]:!^ JS'o. 195. 



DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY. 



TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS. 



PROGRESS REPORT, INCLUDING MISCELLANEOUS OBSER- 

 VATIONS ON TOBACCO. 



BY G. H. CHAPMAN. 



Intboduction. 



The production of cigar leaf tobacco has been for many years a very 

 important agricultural industry in the Connecticut Valley, and in 191& 

 there were approximately 9,000 acres under cultivation in the Massachu- 

 setts section alone. By far the greater part of this was of the variety 

 known as Havana, but some Broadleaf, shaded Cuban, and Sumatra 

 were also grown. The value of the crop was estimated at, roughly, 

 $3,600,000. 



It can be seen from the above that the gross income derived from the 

 growing of tobacco in Massachusetts is very large, and must of necessity 

 be a very important factor in the regional community prosperity. 



The successful raising, curing, and packing of tobacco is, as is well 

 known, an art in itself, and very difficult of uniform attainment. The 

 tobacco plant is very susceptible to comparatively slight changes of 

 environment, and to grow tobacco successfully for a long period of years 

 on the same soil requires, of necessity, extremely close observation an,d 

 skill in agricultural practices. That success does not always attend the- 

 growers is more or less evidenced by the report alleging that the average 

 yield in Massachusetts is falling off, and also that the percentage of 

 wTapper leaves in crops is decreasing. 



The season of 1915 was particularly unfavorable for the development 

 of tobacco, and, as a consequence, the growers requested that experi- 

 mental work be carried on by the station relative to ascertaining the 

 fundamental underlying cause or causes of the apparent deterioration 

 of the crop. No funds were available to carry on this work until the late 

 summer of 1916, when an appropriation was made for this purpose. The 

 collection of data relative to crop conditions and other phases of agricul- 



