20 



pared with tobacco grown without irrigation, but that there was no 

 other noticeable difference in the quality of the leaf. 



A practical experiment on a commercial scale has been started in 

 Florida in the irrigation of the Sumatra type of wrapper leaf. The 

 first crop is reported to be of the finest quality that has ever been 

 grown in the State, containing a larger proportion of first-class wrap- 

 pers. The experiments are being continued and extended. Next year 

 it is proposed by a single company to put 200 acres under the ditch. 

 It is not only necessary in this case to provide the water supply, but 

 the distance of planting, method of cultivation, and time and manner 

 of topping must all be controlled in reference to the variety of tobacco 

 planted and the grade it is proposed to produce — whether a wrapper 

 or a filler leaf. 



In the same line the practice of shading tobacco in Florida may be 

 mentioned. This prevents the excessive evaporation from the plants 

 as well as from the soil, and has had a marked effect in improving the 

 quality of the wrapper leaf and in increasing the percentage of wrap- 

 per leaf in the crop. 



An older method of irrigating in Florida, by the use of overhead 

 sprays, was reported in Bulletin No. 13 of the Division of Soils. This 

 method is not believed to have been as economical or as successful as 

 the present method of subirrigation from wooden troughs laid in the 

 ground. 



INFLUENCE OF TIME OF HARVESTING ON THE YIELD AND THICKNESS 



OF THE LEAF. 



Experiments were undertaken at the Wisconsin Station * in 1895 

 with a view to determining whether the tobacco leaf increased in size 

 and thickness and whether the loss in curing diminishes when the 

 plants are allowed to stand a considerable time after topping. 



Tobacco plants were topped August 2 and 6 and the leaves were 

 picked at different times, varying from eighteen to thirt}^-two days 

 after topping. Upper leaves were selected as samples from which data 

 were determined. The results indicate that the thickness and dry mat- 

 ter of the leaf tended to increase up to thirty-two days after topping, 

 and the }deld showed a tendency to increase in like manner. Cured 

 samples which had been harvested eighteen days after topping had a 

 weight of 459.2 grams and an area per pound of cured leaf of 47.81 

 square feet as compared with the weight of 577.55 grams and an area 

 per pound of cured leaf of 41.39 square feet for cured samples 

 harvested twenty-seven days after topping. There was no material 

 difference in the percentage of loss in curing between the various 

 samples. 



1 Wisconsin Station Rept., 1895. 



