Sept. 1906.] 



241 



Edible Products. 



EFFECT OF PRIMING SUN-GROWN WRAPPER LEAF. 



It was noticed in connection with this experiment that priming had a 

 marked effect on the growth of the upper leaves, removal of the lower leaves 

 causing an increased growth and thickness in the upper leaves, and with it an 

 increased percentage of nicotine. The quality ot the product is thus somewhat 

 lowered, hence the small percentage of first-grade wrapper leaf. The priming 

 of tobacco is more expensive than cutting the stalks, as more labour is required, 

 but the improvement in quality and the percentage of hitrh-grade wrapper leaf 

 fully warrant this additional cost. It has the ad vantage that the leaves are 

 uniformly matured when they are hung in the curing house, and the finished 

 crop is therefore of a more uniform character. 



INFLUENCE OF DISTANCE OF PLANTING ON THE YIELD AND THICKNESS OF THE LEAF. 



A small experiment plot, to study the relation of distance in planting 

 to yield and thickness of the leaf, was planted on November 16, 1904, harvested 

 and cured in the same manner as the previous experiment. Close planting increases 

 the yield per acre, and plants nearest together in the row produced a thinner 

 leaf than the plants set farther apart ; the size of the leaf, thickness, elasticity 

 and size of the veins may all be more or less modified by close planting. On 

 heavy soils, efforts should be directed to the production of a highly-flavoured 

 leaf. These are qualities which can be sensibly affected by the distance of planting, 

 and the time and manner of growing 



SHADE GROWN TOBACCO IN UNITED STATES AND CUBA, AND TOBACCO IN SUMATRA. 



Letter from Messrs. Amory, Brown & (Jo., New York, to the Director 

 of Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica : — The writer has been requested by 

 Mr. R. W Lees to write you with regard to the comparative yields per acre 

 between tobaecc grown in the sun and tobacco grown under cloth in the respective 

 cigar leaf di-tiicts. In reply I would say that I should be glad to assist you 

 in any possible way to get at such exact information as you may desire, and 

 shall in this letter only discuss the question in general terms. It may be laid 

 down in a general way that the culture of tobacco under cloth makes a greater 

 yield than «un-grown in the southern tobacco districts, and makes a smaller 

 yield pei acre than the sun-grown in the northern districts. This is due in the 

 nortn to the fact that different varieties of tobacco, of less yield, are preferred 

 for use under cloth, the product being much finer than the outdoor types that 

 are common in these regions. In Connecticut, for instance, the outdoor tobaccos, 

 called Connecticut Havana seed and Connecticut broad-leaf, produce from 1,600 

 to 2,000 lb. per acre, while Sumatra and Cuban seed, which are there preferred 

 for planting under cloth, do not yield more than from 800 to 1,100 for Cuban 

 and from 1,000 to 1,850 for Sumatra. This deficiency in weight is made up by 

 the thinness and fine quality of the leaf as compared with the sun-grown. 



It is due to say, however, that where the outdoor-grown seed of Connecticut 

 tobaccos (Havana seed and broad-leaf ) is grown in Connecticut under cloth, the 

 yield per acre is usually reduced from 1,600 and 2,000 lb. to 1,250 and 1,600 lb., owing 

 to the fact that the leaf is thinner. The capacity for covering cigars, by the pound 

 of leaf, is, however, increased. These native tobaccos have not, as yet, been largely 

 grown under cloth in Connecticut, the smaller- leafed types of Sumatra and Cuban 

 being preferred. Perhaps the best comparison in Connecticut as to respective 

 weights is shown in the case of Sumatra tobacco ; small p ots of this have been 

 planied in the sun, near the clo h-covered field, and the yield per acre in the sun 

 is much less than that under cloth, the plants not getting anything like the growth 

 that those under cloth attain. In Florida the acreage of sun-grown is decreasing, 

 so that it is not so much of a factor in the trade there, but there is an increase of 



