The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-24
GROWING TOBACCO.
Some Experiments That Are Proving
Of Value.
By F.. G.. Snyde,

(By E. c. Snyder.)
Washington. July 24.-The tobacco
farmers of the country, according to
the department of agriculture, are
growing their tobacco seed under COW
er, or, rather, in paper bags. That is
a queer place to grow anything, the
reader may think. but the scientific
sharps at the agricultural department
have discovered that seed grown in the
open air never yields the same kind of
tobacco as that from which it is taken.
The tobacco experts found that
plants from the seed of stalks which
had every characteristic the planter
desired reproduced in his crop, very
frequently producing tobacco lacking
almost entirely in the characteristics
they wished perpetuated. It was fin
ally discovered that tobacco was guilty
of that horrible crime of foreign pol
lonization," that is, the pollen from
other stalks would fertilize the stalk
which the grower had selected to bear
his seed for the next season, and the
result would be tobacco entirely differ
ent in character from that from which
the seed was taken.
The problem was solved as soon as
the device of the paper bag was hit up
on. The inverted bag was slipped
over the seed pods, before they opened
and kept there until the seed had ma
tured. 1t was found that tobacco pro-
duced from seed grown in this way
was precisely like that from which the
seed was taken. In this way it is not
only possible for the grower to tell the
kind of tobacco he will have, but by Sc
lecting the finest plants in his field for
the production of seed, and protecting
them carefully against the pollen from
other stalks he can greatly increase
the yield. Experiments conducted by
the department in the fields about
Washington have increased the yield
from seven hundred pounds to twelve
hundred pounds per acre.
II have no doubt we shall be able
to accomplish great things in the way
of improving tobacco" said DR.. Gallo
way head of the bureau Of plant indus
try, of the agricultural department to-
day.
Dr. Galloway told how it was posi-
BILE to breed tobacco which would have
very broad and heavy leaves, with very
fine stems and ribs. One interesting
and highly valuable achievement of
the department has been the securing
of tobacco which will not grow suck
ers. This means great deal to the
tobacco grower, who has to expend so
much time and labor taking the suck
ers from the tobacco plants about as
much as is spent in destroying the
worms which try to eat up the weed
"Have you yet found a tobacco the
worms will not chew" was asked of
DR.. Galloway.
"Not yet" replied the doctor, "but
we are making great progress in the
direction of securing types Of disease
resisting tobacco. believe we shall
eventually have tobacco which will
not have the suckers on 1t and which
will not be subject to any disease. All
the growers will have to do then will
be to cultivate the ground about the
plant, and kill the worms on 1t. Per-
haps we may eventually find some in
sect or worm which will kill the to-
bacco worm The culture of the to-
bacco plant will then be greatly sim
plified and the cost greatly reduced.
But DR.. Galloway did not give great
encouragement to the idea of discov-
ering an enemy of the tobacco worm
which would do away with the farmers
back-breaking work of picking and
destroying the pests. Possibly he had
in mind the failure of the department
to accomplish any very beneficial re-
suits from the experiments with the
Guatemalan ant, which was brought
to Texas from Guatemala two years
ago, and turned into the cotton fields
for the purpose of having it wage war
of determination on the cotton boil
weevil, which was destroying many
thousands of dollars worth of cotton
every year.
The day of the woman clerk in the
government service bids fair to pass.
The woman clerks themselves do not
realize the fact as yet, but the men do
and are already predicting the arrival
Of the time when they will be absolute