6 



root system. The plant grows as tall as the large broadleaved strains, 

 such as 400. but in size of leaf it more closely resembles such strains 

 as Gold Dollar. The leaves are somewhat rounded (fig. 4), averaging 

 15 percent shorter and 15 percent wider than Gold Dollar. In a 

 comparable planting, untopped plants of Oxford 26 averaged 12 inches 

 taller than Gold Dollar, but the two varieties had the same number 

 of leaves, indicating longer internodes on Oxford 26. The leaves curve 

 downward as they approach maturity, forming an angle of more than 

 90 degrees between leaf tip and stem. 



TESTS OF YIELD AND QUALITY 



In plot trials conducted on soil heavily infected with wilt, Oxford 26 

 produced on the average nearly five times as much tobacco as Gold 

 Dollar. When grown on soils where wilt was not a problem, however, 

 the yields of the two varieties were approximately the same (table 1), 



Table 1. — Comparative yields. 1 in cured leaf per acre, of tobacco varieties Oxford 

 26 and Gold Dollar, grown on icilt-infected and liealtlnj soils 





Variety 



On wilt- 

 I infected 

 soils 



On healthy soil 





Location 1 3 



Location 2 * 



Oxford 2* - - 





' Pounds 

 1.123.0 



Pounds 

 1.500.5 



Pounds 

 LOfiQ. 2 



r r -' ~- ~, --- -.- 





238.5 



1.43S. i.nsa o 













i Averages from replicated plots. 3 On Enon sandy loam. 1943 and 1944. 



' On Creedmoor sandy loam, 1943 and 1944. * On Creedmoor sandy loam, 1944. 



and there were no significant differences in price per pound. Twenty 

 acres of Oxford 26 or closely related strains were grown commercially 

 in 1943 and weU over 2.500 acres in 1944. The results were uniformly 

 satisfactory, many growers producing more than 1.000 poimds per acre. 

 On farms where wilt had been especially severe, growers estimated 

 that their yields were 25 to 50 percent higher than in years when 

 wilt-susceptible varieties were grown. 



Federal inspectors who examined much of this tobacco found 

 that it compared favorably with the usual offerings, but it was slightly 

 shorter and had a higher percentage of the total weight in the lug 

 and cutter grades. In quality evaluations, obtained on samples from 

 the 1943 and 1944 crops by commercial leaf experts and by chemical 

 analyses, the tobacco was found to be of good quality and suitable for 

 cigarette production. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR CULTURE 



Growers who plan to use Oxford 26 for the first time should deter- 

 mine whether the disease to be controlled is bacterial wilt. In some 

 communities where wilt is widespread, black shank, another destruc- 

 tive disease,, is present on a few farms. Through a mistake in disease 

 identification, wilt-resistant tobacco was planted in 1944 on a few 

 fields where black shank was the problem to be met. and losses as 

 high as 75 percent resulted. The black-shank-resistant strains 



