151 
lying  atmosphere.  Another  instance  of  capillarity,  which  may 
perhaps  render  this  process  .more  obvious,  is  seen  when  a cube  of 
sugar  is  held  in  contact  with  the  surface  of  a cup  of  coffee. 
In  order  to  prevent  this  enormous  loss  from  evaporation,  the 
dry-farming  method  is  to  break  up  'the  surface  crust  as  soon  after 
rain  as  practical.  By  this  means  not  only  is  the  process  of  capil- 
larity prevented  but  the  roughened  layer  of  soil  acts  as  a mulch 
which  checks  evaporation. 
By  practicing  the  three  methods  of  moisture  conservation  briefly 
described,  land  which  receives  an  altogether  inadequate  supply  of 
rain  for  ordinary  farm  methods  is  said  to  be  rendered  amply  pro- 
ductive. Among  other  rules  of  “dry-farming”  methods  which 
are  most  often  reiterated  may  be  here  mentioned  deep  plowing, 
and  cultivation  and  harrowing  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  sufficiently 
dry. 
The  practice  of  breaking  up  the  surface  crust  to  prevent  capil- 
lary action  is  one  which  may  well  be  introduced  as  an  adjunct  t< 
ordinary  farming  methods,  where  the  rainfall  is  not  regular  or 
where  watering  by  hand  is  depended  upon.  By  this  means  the 
periods  between  watering  may  be  lengthened  and  the  labor  corre- 
spondingly lessened.  For  some  time  this  plan  has  been  followed 
with  vegetable  crops  in  a garden  near  Honolulu  with  satisfactory 
result. 
SHELTER  TENT  TOBACCO. 
A publication  has  recently  been  received  from  the  Pennsylvania 
State  College  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  upon  Shelter- 
Tent  Experiments  with  Smyrna-type  Tobacco,  by  William  Frear. 
The  station  commenced  experiments  to  determine  whether  by  the 
aid  of  shelter  tents  such  as  had  been  more  or  less  successfully  used 
in  Florida  and  Connecticut,  wrapper  leaf  of  the  Sumatra  type 
could  be  produced  profitably  in  Pennsylvania.  The  peculiar  fea- 
tures of  this  method  of  culture  are  the  use  of  slacked  or  open 
meshed  cheese-cloth  shelters, — which  exclude  the  insects,  diminish 
air  movements  about  the  plants  and  increase  the  moistness  of  the 
air, — close  planting,  high  topping,  harvesting  each  leaf  separately 
instead  of  cutting  the  entire  stalk  and  curing  the  leaf  before  its 
removal. therefrom,  and,  finally,  sweating  in  bulks  rather  than  in 
cases.  The  annual  reports  of  the  Pennsylvania  Station  for  1902 
to  1904  contain  accounts  of  the  earlier  experiments.  They  show 
that  a thinner  leaf  was  secured  upon  the  light  Penn  sandy  loam 
of  the  northern  townships  than  upon  the  Norfolk  gravelly  loam 
soil  bordering  the  Susquehanna  that  was  first  used  for  these  ex- 
periments. The  leaf  exhibited,  when  tested  in  cigar  manufacture 
under  factory  conditions,  some  defect  in  elasticity  and  burning 
quality,  but  yet  displayed  large  covering  power,  fineness  of  vein, 
and  good  luster.  The  experiments  were  therefore  continued  to 
ascertain  how  far  seasonal  differences  might  affect  the  quantity 
