ERECTING THE TENT. ) 
Knowing the nature of plants and that when seed is transported 
from a warm climate to a colder one the progeny is almost sure to 
break up into many varieties, some desirable and some undesirable, 
a breaking up in type was anticipated. This was found to be the 
case when a plant breeder from the Bureau of Plant Industry began 
to make a study of the types of tobacco for uniformity. In one field 
of 46 acres, 29 distinctly different varieties were found and isolated.” 
Experiments with these varieties were conducted during the seasons 
of 1904 and 1905 to prove their merit and prepotency. Every 
variety came true to type, and of the 29 only 2 were found to possess 
any merit. This suggested a solution to the problem, which has 
been worked out during the last four years and has been the means 
of establishing upon a sound and profitable basis the shade-tobacco 
industry of Connecticut, as will be shown in this publication by the 
records of demonstration tests on a commercial basis. 
CULTURE. 
ERECTING THE TENT. 
Too much stress can not be laid upon making the tent frame strong 
in every way, so that there will be as little ‘‘give”’ to it as possible. 
The outside posts should be well guyed, so that the wires will remain 
taut when stretched. Much trouble is often caused by the main 
wires, to which the cloth is sewed, becoming so loose that the pull of 
the cloth in the wind can move them up and down. This gives the 
cloth a chance to jerk and break the cord which holds it to the wire, 
causing a rip, which is difficult to repair. 
The most economical distance to set the posts is 24 feet apart each 
way. To set them farther apart is not safe, because the strain upon 
the cloth in a high wind involves the danger of loosening the covering 
at a critical time. 
In preparing to erect a tent the first essential is to lay off the land 
and place a small stake where each post is to be located. To do this 
start at one corner and lay off a square and set a side and end row 
of stakes across the field at right angles to each other, sighting them 
in line and measuring the distance to put them apart in the row. 
When this is done the rest of the field can be best laid out by the use 
of a triangle the sides of which are the desired length. Put one 
leg of the triangle against the end row of stakes and the other leg 
against the side row and place the new stake in the corner of the 
triangle. Repeat this until all of the places for posts are marked. 
@See Bulletin No. 91 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, entitled, ‘‘ Varieties of 
Tobacco Distributed in 1905-6, with Cultural Directions.”’ 
138 
58391— Bul. 138—08 2 
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