21 



was done by native workmen and in their usual manner. The plants 

 were from unselected native seed and showed considerable variation 

 in size and vigor. It is due chiefly to these two factors that so large 

 a number of the plants in all cases failed to survive the process of 

 transplanting. 



Under the cheese cloth another experiment was tried to ascertain 

 the effect of better planting. On one plat 1,700 plants were care- 

 fully set out, the roots being placed straight in the holes, and moist 

 earth in all cases pressed firmly around them. The following day 

 each plant was watered. Another plat of 800 plants was planted in 

 the usual native way. The results of careful planting were very 

 marked, only about 5 per cent of the plants being lost, while with 

 those planted in the usual manner the loss was much greater. The 

 natural conditions, however, were more favorable to those which were 

 carefully planted, so that a fair comparison could not be made. 



There is no doubt that by a careful selection of seed from hardy 

 plants, and by using only that portion of it which .has good vitality, 

 plants will be produced that will stand the process of transplanting 

 with much less loss, and that this loss can be still further reduced by 

 better methods of transplanting, such as shading the young plants 

 from the sun, protecting them from cutworms and mole crickets, and 

 by carefully placing the roots in the soil and watering when dry. By 

 avoiding as much as possible the replanting of the fields the crop is 

 made more uniform, easier to harvest, and more valuable. (PL II.) 



VALUE OF SHADE FOR PRODUCING WRAPPERS. 



It was planned to make a careful comparison of the cost of pro- 

 duction and value of shade-grown tobacco with that grown outside, 

 but under otherwise similar conditions. 



Four-elevenths of an acre was planted under shade November 21, 

 1903, and at about the same date 2 acres were planted outside. Very 

 heavy rains occurred just after planting that outside, and a large 

 part of the first planting was washed out. The delay in replanting 

 and other uncontrollable factors interfered to such an extent with 

 the outside crop that it was not worth while to carry out the com- 

 parison. The shade-grown tobacco was carried through to the finish 

 and a careful record kept of it. Owing to delay in getting a curing 

 shed ready for this tobacco it was harvested in an overripe condition, 

 and for this reason many of the bottom leaves w r ere lost. A short 

 time before the leaves began to ripen a disease appeared on them, 

 which gave rise to numerous whitish and brown spots. It spread 

 very rapidly, and at the time of harvesting nearly all leaves were 

 affected and many of them so badly damaged as to make them use- 

 less for wrappers. 



Some of the diseased leaves were sent to the United States Depart- 



