ipio.] 



Tobacco Growing in Ireland. 



925 



The Board have received the following note on the dressing 



of seeds from Mr. W. E. Sawyer. The use of tar for this 



purpose is well known, and has been 



found satisfactory. 



Dressing for Spring Owing to the difficulty on some heavy 

 or Winter Wheat. • ° . , J , 14 , J r 



clay lands of getting the full acreage of 



winter wheat sown, and to the high 

 prices at present ruling for wheat, no doubt there will be a 

 large acreage of spring wheat sown. The new French wheats 

 seem likely to be useful for this purpose on account of their 

 early ripening qualities. To preserve the seeds from rooks, 

 which in the early spring are apt to be troublesome, a good 

 way is, after the usual anti-smut dressing of blue vitriol, to 

 dress the wheat as follows : Thin down with paraffin a pint 

 of coal tar to make it work easily. This will be sufficient to 

 dress six bushels of wheat, which should be spread on the 

 barn floor and sprinkled with the mixture, turning the seeds 

 five or six times until they are all uniformly black. Then 

 sprinkle powdered lime over them and turn again until they 

 are coated with the lime ; this is necessary to prevent the wheat 

 from sticking together or blocking up the drill. This and the 

 anti-smut dressing increase the bulk of the ends somewhat, 

 and must be allowed for in setting the drill for the quantity 

 of seed to be drilled per acre. The seed retains the coat of 

 tar, but the dressing in no way affects the germination. 



Information was given in this Journal in October, 1908, as 

 to the experimental cultivation of tobacco in Ireland, and also 

 as regards the Tobacco Growing (Scot- 

 Tobacco Growing land) Act, 1908. Since that date the 

 in Ireland. Department of Agriculture for Ireland 



has issued in its own Journal (January, 

 1909) an exhaustive review of the experiments and of the 

 information obtained up to the end of 1908. A number of 

 leaflets are also being issued on "Tobacco Growing in Ire- 

 land," as follows: (a) Introductory; (b) Suitable Soils and 

 their Treatment; (c) Curing Barns; (d) Suitable Varieties; 

 (e) Seed Beds; (/) Manures; (g) Transplanting; (h) Cultiva- 

 tion; (i) Harvesting and Curing; (;) Grading, Packing, and 

 Maturing; (k) Marketing. As the question of the possibility 



