652 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 17 
this state but to a more limited extent. The senior author had occasion 
at that time to collect a large number of samples of diseased Burley 
tobacco. This sold on the market at from fifty cents to two dollars per 
hundred pounds and these prices did not cover the stripping and ware¬ 
house charges. The question was often raised then what disposition 
other than as a fertilizer could be made of this class of tobacco if left on 
the farm and if any part could be used for making a spray. To arrive 
at more definite knowledge concerning the latter point the senior author 
made the chemical investigations described herein and the results ob¬ 
tained suggested the cooperative spray experiments which were later 
undertaken to corroborate the chemical findings. 
Twenty-six samples were selected for the work, eighteen of air-cured 
Burley and eight of dark tobacco. Six of the latter were fire-cured and 
the remainder were air-cured. The midrib or stem had been previously 
removed from three of the Burley and from all of the samples of dark 
tobacco, in connection with some other work. The dark tobacco was 
freer from disease and in most instances had a market value that would 
probably not permit its use in making sprays. Diseased samples of this 
tobacco could not be obtained at the time. All the Burley samples, 
however, were more or less infected with wildfire and angular leaf-spot. 
Nicotine determinations were made on the air-dried samples with the 
following results: 
Table 1—Percentage of Nicotine in Air-dried Common Tobacco Trash Used 
in Spraying Experiments. 
Maximum Minimum 
Averag e 
Burley, 18 samples. 
. 2.93 
0.26 
1.07 
Dark (fire-cured) 6 samples. 
. 4.30 
0.98 
2.57 
Dark (air-cured) 2 samples. 
. 4.48 
2.16 
3.32 
The sample of Burley containing only 0.26 per cent of nicotine in 
Table 1 may be exceptional. The next higher percentage of nicotine 
found was 0.68 per cent, making the range in 17 samples from 0.68 to 
2.93 per cent, and the average 1.12 per cent. The nicotine content of a 
majority of the samples was close to this average. 
To a convenient weight of each of the above powdered samples, the 
required volume of cold tap water was added so that the resulting solu¬ 
tion would contain .07 per cent of nicotine, assuming that a complete 
extraction of it would be obtained. The samples were allowed to remain 
in the cold water for 24 hours and the solution, after decantation, was 
used as a spray. It is doubtful if all the nicotine was extracted but if 
seventy per cent or more was obtained, which is probable, the solution 
