The age-herald., 1902-03-30
Experiments in Sumatra Leaf Raising
 Are Now in Progress.

with wheat or rye bran and sown spar lngly over the prepared beds. The beds are then covered with glass or cloth till the plants appear, when the warm spring sur is allowed to reach them. Very soon after the first of April the plants are transplanted. By the end of September they are ready for topping, and harvest ing begins early in October.
 The usual practice with Connecticut River and Housatonic farmers is to culti- vate the ground at least three times, and set out the tobacco plants in rows three feet apart, each plant in a hole foot , and half from its neighbor. To raise several acres of tobacco requires extra ordinary patience and time Tobacco is the most difficult of New England crops to raise, and demands the most atten- tion. The ordinary profit Is from $20O to S4OO an acre, though under the improved method introduced by the agricultural station this is greatly increased.
 In conjunction with the Connecticut agricultural station the Division of Soils of the United States Department of Agri- culture Is now in the midst of important studies of the character and adaptability of the soils of the Connecticut Valley to tobacco raising. Tine surveys of the Gov errment have extended from South Had ley, Mass, to a few miles below Hart ford. Conn.,, where the tobacco lands cease to be productive. To quote from the 1900 report of the Division of Soils, accom- panying the first soil survey.
 "The survey is but the basis of a very extensive and comprehensive investiga- tion by this division as authorized by l Congress. The soils of the Connecticut Valley were laid down by water and were thus sorted out in various terraces and degrees of fineness. The Hartford loam, forming the principal to- baoco soil is a grade coarser than the Po- dunk sand, (which is very f1ne) while the Windsor foam, believed to be the original bottom of the glacial lake in it's shallaw- est portion, is very coars containing some gravel. The Windsor sands produce the finest wrapper leaf, and it would pay to irrigate these lands, where | this coulc be done in order to secure a crop four times out of five at least where it is now only possible to secure a crop enc or two times out of five. An attempt is to be mada to secure a radical change in the type of leaf by closer planting, al- lowing more leaves to the stalk, by rapid growth, by shading, and possibly irriga- 1 tion. The Connecticut experiments will be undertaken in the hope of producing a | leaf approaching more nearly the Suma- 1 tra type of wrapper, this type being gen orally accepted in this country as the ci-  gar wrapper standard"
 | The Windsor loam here mentioned is found in immense tracts beginning south of Chicopee and West Springfield. Mass. 1 in Longmeadow, Conn, and again south and west of Windsor Locks. The Hart ford sandy loam Is found in even larger deposits south of South Hadley, south of Springfield, In Suffield, Conn.,, Enfield, and extending clear south on both sides of the Connecticut river to Hartford It has been the purpose of the United States Government, in surveying the locations of these tobacco-growing soils to direct the farmers attention to the best localities for their apartments.
 Tobacco was first introduced in the Connecticut Valley as farm crop in the early part of the last century. The first cigars made in this country were manu- factured in this section in 1902. The Con- nectcut tobacco has naturally less nico- tine and is adapted for wrapper purposes exclusively But 1t is still too large and rough and uneven in quality to command the best prices. and 1t Is to correct these natural defects that experiments are now being carried forward.