8 BULLETIN 765, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Burley. Quality in Burley tobacco is largely a matter of the color 

 and texture of the cured product. Several trials have shown that the 

 resistant type is practically equal to the ordinary Burley varieties in 

 these respects. The final criterion must be the relative prices brought 

 on the warehouse floor. In this, the resistant Burley has so far shown 

 itself to be equally as valuable as the ordinary Burleys. In the field, 

 however, it seems that the top leaves do not color up as rapidly or 

 as brightly as some of the best strains of ordinary Burley. The im- 

 portance of this from a commercial standpoint is seemingly not 

 great, although it is true that it may result in somewhat more " red 

 leaf." The fact that the resistant Burley makes a more vigorous 

 growth on partially sick soils, however, will generally result in a 

 greater proportion of the higher priced grades, which, together with 

 a larger total yield, may fully offset any disadvantage of slightly 

 reduced color. Briefly stated, some of the best strains of the ordinary 

 Burley may produce better quality on healthy soil, but on sick soil 

 the resistant Burley will usually prove better in both yield and 

 quality. 



The results attained up to the present time warrant the recom- 

 mendation of the resistant type for growing on all sick soils in the 

 Burley section on which it is to be expected that the ordinary varie- 

 ties of White Burley will give unsatisfactory yields. It is hoped 

 that in the near future the resistant character will be introduced into 

 the best strains of ordinary Burley, so that they may be grown suc- 

 cessfully on diseased as well as on healthy soils. 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE WHITE BURLEY DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY. 



The resistant Burley strains have been tested on several farms in 

 the Burley section of Kentucky during the past three years. These 

 demonstrations have been made on the farms of Mr. E. F. Shropshire, 

 Lexington ; Dr. S. H. Halley, Paynes Depot ; Mr. William Feck, Lex- 

 ington; Mr. N". H. Witherspoon, Winchester; and Mr. J. Waller 

 Bodes, Lexington. Several others also have grown some of the strains 

 on trial. The progress of the work from the standpoint of the demon- 

 stration* of disease resistance has been hampered somewhat by the 

 difficulty of finding growers who were willing to put in third or 

 fourth crops in succession on the same soil, since it was felt that a 

 crop failure with Burley would be almost certain to follow. Such 

 soils, however, have been obtained in a few instances. On the farm 

 of Mr. E. F. Shropshire, Maysville Pike, Lexington, a plat which 

 had already grown three crops of Burley was secured in 1916. Re- 

 sistant and ordinary Burleys have been planted on this land for the 

 last three years. The results each season have been striking. The 

 ordinary Burleys have made practically no growth, while the re- 



