April 1908.] 



351 



Miscellaneous. 



world. These fruits will carry in ordin- 

 ary export cases. Each fruit should 

 be wrapped to prevent the spread of 

 any decay, but for trial shipments, 

 growers should pack in different ways, 

 in order to find out the best methods 

 of carriage. 



Citrus Fruits. 



Citrus fruits sent to London from this 

 State have, so far, had no success worth 

 speaking of. Nevertheless, the success 

 of the Italian and American growers in 

 landing oranges and lemons on the 

 Melbourne wharf after a journey of 

 several thousand miles shows that it is 

 possible to carry citrus fruits in perfect 

 order. Similar-fruits have been received, 

 from China, in trays and ordinary cases 

 in perfect order. It seems from observ- 

 ation of these consigments, that the 

 essentials to success are:— Send only 

 prime, thin-skinned, well-cured fruits, 

 wrap each in dry tissue-paper and pack 

 in boxes or trays so that the contents 

 may not be shaken about. Experi- 

 mental lots might be also sent to the 

 United States. In May last, oranges 

 were selling up to 14s. 6d., and lemons 

 21s. per case, at San Francisco. Oranges 

 should arrive in London from about 

 the middle of August until the end of 

 October. Lemons are not so likely to 

 be payable as oranges, because of the 

 regular supplies of stored fruit in large 

 quantities and at low rates. 



Conclusion. 



See that the highest standard of 

 quality is maintained throughout every 

 season ; remember that one inferior 

 consigment will do more damage to a 

 grower's reputation than a whole 

 season's effort will efface ; ship consign- 

 ments under a few brands as possible 

 (one preferably) and do not change your 

 brands ; co-operate and thus save ex- 

 penses at this end ; concentrate and save 

 expenses at the other end. — Journal 

 of the Department of Agriculture oj 

 Victoria, Vol. VI., Part 2, February 8th, 

 1908. 



TOBACCO BREEDING. 



The prosperity of the tobacco industry 

 as a whole and of the growers in parti- 

 cular depends on the development of 

 improved varieties of tobacco adapted 

 to the demands of manufacturers and 

 consumers. There is no crop which res- 

 ponds 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 cul- 

 ture 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 selection 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 production of the crop. The fact 

 that tobacco is perfectly self-fertile and 

 that self-fertilised seed produces more 

 uniform and better developed plants 

 than seed resulting from cross-fertilisa- 

 tion within the variety mak^s it possible 

 by the adoption of proper methods of 

 saving seed to make rapid progress in 

 the improvement of the crop. Improve- 

 ment 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 con- 

 sumption of this crop- 



The production of new varieties of 

 tobacco by hybridisation and selection 

 is a most important phase of tobacco 

 breeding. The new hybrids of native 

 New England varieties with standard 

 foreign-grown varieties, combining cer- 

 tain valuable characters of both parents, 

 described in this bulletin, are good illus- 

 trations of the use of breeding in the 

 improvement of the tobacco crop. The 

 making and testing of hybrids are 

 matters of experiment and require con- 

 siderable time and expense, but expe- 

 rience has shown that the results justify 

 the necessary expenditure. 



The production of improved breeds of 

 live stock and varieties of fruits and 

 cereals, in fact, of all crops, might be 

 cited to prove the importance of apply- 

 ing the principles of breeding to the 

 tobacco crop. It is only recently that 

 systematic breeding experiments have 

 been undertaken. It is hoped that the 

 results of the experiments cited in this 

 bulletin will serve as a means of creat- 

 ing general interest in this subject and 

 of inducing investigators, breeders, and 

 growers to turn their attention to the 

 further improvement of their crops. 



