Pr. & 
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as rated Gs Ae ; 
Lt “4 i 
Nareprpe io 229 
the farmer in making experiments upon tobacco with different fertil- 
izers should not depend upon appearance alone, as a fertilizer may 
exert a considerable influence upon the crop without the fact being 
discernible to the eye. 
We submitted samples of cured leaves from each of the fertilized 
rows to a tobacco expert, who pronounced the burning quality of all 
the samples as all that could be desired, except the one from the row 
to which the sulphate of iron was applied, and that this sample was 
so little inferior to the others as to be scarcely worthy of remark. It 
is possible that the soil upon which our tobacco grew was so thoroughly 
impregnated with plant food that the influence of the chemicals ap- 
plied was unnoticeable. It seems certain, however, that they hada 
perceptible effect upon the growth of the plants. | 
Tuer SupERIOR YIELD OF EHARLY PLANTS. 
In our report for 1882, we noted that the plants of tobacco which 
made the most rapid growth attained the largest size, and also re- 
tained when cured the largest precentage of their green weight. Wish- 
ing to make further observations on this point we have noted the 
weights, green and cured, of plants topped at different times, but har- 
vested on the same day. ‘The plants were topped when the flower 
stalk first appeared, hence the time of topping represents very nearly 
their comparative earliness. 
In the following table we give the weights, green and cured, of ten 
average plants of each date of topping, appending in each case the 
‘percentage (by weight) of cured leaf. The plants were all harvested 
August 26th: 
Per cent of 
Days before Weight Weight of weight of 
» Ten plants topped. havesting. green, lbs. cured leaf lbs. cured leaf, 
DERI oie cid n o3's ale Teas sc oi os 26 41.0 4.062 9,909 
UE OS eee ae 24 32.6 3.373 10.347 
eid ha re ip 'h oie 8 4'e53"s 22 32.9 3.628 11.027 
MATAR UM 5 ss oe'p) yichate dee « 15 29.4 2.578 8.768 
DAUR SL done. 3) oA) prep aber wai, o! 0% $ 23.2 2.315 9.978 
PEE TT OM cis) hes 5051 <'4 sy 0:0 i's 8 21.8 2.007 9.206 
IU ite aie aeons: di gland .eime 4 LORE 1.378 8.252 
It thus appears that with a single exception the weight of the green 
plants and of the cured leaf shows a constant gradation downward 
from the earliest to the latest topping. In the percentage of cured 
leaf, however, we do not find the same gradation ; hence we conclude 
that this does not wholly depend upon the time that the plant is al- 
lowed to stand after topping, although our experiments of last year 
seemed to warrant such a deduction. 
It appears, however, that the earliest plants yielded about three 
times as much weight of cured leaf as the latest ones, and this differ- 
ence is practically augmented by the superior quality of the product 
of the early plants. 
We noted last season, as we have very often noted in previous years, 
that the largest plants in the seed-bed formed the earliest plants in 
the field. This then, isa strong argument in favor of an extensive 
