8 TOBACCO BEEEDING. 



conditions of soil and climate, has resulted in the production of types 

 adapted to the soils and conditions of these sections, as well as supply- 

 ing a product for the varied manufactures now demanded by the 

 consumers of tobacco. Improvements in methods of culture, curing, 

 and fermentation have resulted in the production of tobacco having 

 an increased value, but the most important factor in the development 

 of more valuable tobaccos has been the production of improved 

 varieties by seed selection and breeding. The production of these 

 improved varieties adapted to local soil and climatic conditions has 

 made possible the rapid development of the industry and enabled the 

 United States in a comparatively short time to rank as the foremost 

 tobacco-producing country in the world. 



The prosperity of the tobacco industry as a whole and of the 

 growers in particular depends on the development of improved 

 varieties of tobacco adapted to the demands of manufacturers and 

 consumers. There is no crop which responds so readily to breeding as 

 tobacco, as has been proved by the experiments of the writers, and it 

 is further true that without careful selection and breeding there is 

 no crop which so quickly deteriorates in yield and quality. The 

 extent of the areas in the United States in which the conditions of 

 soil and climate are suitable to tobacco culture is almost unlimited, 

 so that it seems possible that by giving attention to the production of 

 varieties adapted to those conditions this country can continue to 

 produce an increasingly large yield of valuable tobaccos. 



The experiments of the writers have shown that it is possible to 

 increase the yield and improve the quality of the crop by seed selec- 

 tion and breeding. The methods of breeding worked out in the 

 course of these experiments are simple and practical and can be 

 carried out by every grower with little or no extra cost in the pro- 

 duction of the crop. The fact that tobacco is perfectly self- fertile 

 and that self- fertilized seed produces more uniform and better 

 developed plants than seed resulting from cross-fertilization within 

 the variety makes it possible by the adoption of proper methods of 

 saving seed to make rapid progress in the improvement of the crop- 

 Improvement in the shape, size, and quality of leaves or increase 

 in the number of leaves borne by the individual plants, all of 

 which can be attained by breeding, means increased profits to the 

 growers and manufacturers, and therefore is of vital interest to all 

 who are interested in the production, manufacture, and consump- 

 tion of this crop. 



The production of new varieties of tobacco by hybridization and 

 selection is a most important phase of tobacco breeding. The new 

 hybrids of native New England varieties with standard foreign- 

 grown varieties, combining certain valuable characters of both par- 



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