150 [ ASSEMBLY 
considered superior in quality to that of the Connecticut varieties; so 
much so that the latter are at present but little grown. The Havana 
hybrids are being rapidly introduced in the Chemung districts also, 
The soil on which the greater part of the tobacco is grown is clay or 
gravel loam, fertilized with stable or barn-yard manure. The crop 
has generally proved profitable to those farmers who have not planted 
larger areas than they were able to manure and cultivate well, and 
prepare the crop for market in the best manner. Perhaps no crop 
grown in our State gives better rewards for careful management than 
tobacco. 
The business has not, however, been without its drawbacks. Hail 
storms have often been very disastrous, and heavy falls of snow, or tor- 
nadoes, have often broken down the buildings in which the crop is 
cured, causing almost total loss to the crops within them. 
These drawbacks have not, however, been more serious with the to- 
bacco crop than is to be expected with any special crop that requires 
an equally long preparation for market. 
We acknowledge our indebtedness to Mr. J, F. Green of the Bald- 
winsville G'azette, for facts relating to the history of tobacco growing 
in Onondaga and adjacent counties. 
A few experiments were made on a small scale with tobacco, em- 
bracing chiefly distances of planting, methods of cultivation and vari- 
eties. It was not expected that our results could be conclusive, though 
it was hoped that they might be suggestive. A quantity of tobacco 
seed, catalogued and labeled as fifteen distinct varieties, was pur- 
chased of one of our leading seedsmen with the view of testing the 
adaptability of these varieties to the soil and climate of New York. 
These seeds, with five varieties obtained from other sources, were 
planted in thecold frame April 12 and 13, having been previously 
“put to sprout.” between layers of cotton cloth. Of five of these fif- 
teen so-called varieties, very few seeds sprouted and these proved so 
feeble that they never produced plants. All of the others, however, 
vegetated more or less plants.. A few plants of each of the fifteen 
varieties that vegetated were set out June 8, on a piece of ground pre- 
pared for the purpose. But the purchased seed proved to be a shame- 
ful mixture of perhaps half a dozen different sorts. In ‘a single group, 
the plants were all of one variety, and undoubtedly true to name, viz.: 
the Turkish tobacco. Another group, from seed labeled Latakia, 
contained one plant that could be identified as correct, but the other 
groups illustrated so much mixture that the labels were passed by as 
useless, and although they contained several distinct varieties, these 
could not be identified by any description at hand. A bit of mosquito 
netting was tied around a branchlet on each plant that appeared dis- 
tinct, to preserve pure a portion of the seed for planting another year, 
when further attempts will be made to name and study varieties, 
It is proposed to plant for a term of years a small quantity of the 
seed of as many of the varieties not yet tested in the north as can be 
procured, sowing each year the seed of the previous year, to discover 
the effect of acclimation on their qualities. 
Two of the varities tested, viz.: the Turkish and Latakia, belong to. 
the species Vicotiana rustica, and are quite distinct from the varieties 
