The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1922-04-04
QUALITY SHOULD BE CHIEF
AIM OF TOBACCO cRoWERs

QUALITY SHOULD BE CHIEF
AIM OF TOBACCO GROWERS
Quality, rather than the quantity,
should be the motto of the members
of the association, President James
G. Stone said in discussing crop and
market conditions in the Burnley dis
trict.
Our members should raise good
tobacco, said President Stone. ''They
ought to plant on good land. They
should not crowd their barns with the
harvested crop. They should have
their seed right If they use the old
cotton it should be boiled before us
ing it, Good quality be the constant
of the hurley tobacco growers, for
there never has been a time in the
history of the hurley tobacco market
when good tobacco did not bring a
price warranting the care and trouble
necessary to produce it, when com
pared with the prices paid for more
tobacco of poorer quality"
President Stone had before him a
bulletin of the Kentucky Agricultur-
al Experiment Station prepared by
w. d. Valleau, sthe tobacco expert of
the Collge of Agriculture, which told
the story of the ruin of thousands of
acres of tobacco in 1920 by wild fire
and angular leaf spot, which mater
ally reduced what at one time appear
ed would be a record crop.
President Stone commended this
bulletin, circular No. SO, to the grow
ers of tobacco throughout the district.
He said this bulletin gave full direc-
tons for the treatment of seed be.
fore planting, so as to avoid the de-
velopment of plant disease.
"The grower is told, said Mr..
Stone. Gin this bulletin to soak the
seed in solution of an ounce of com
mercial formalin to a pint of water
or in this proportion, stirring the
seed constantly for fifteen minutes,
washing it thoroughly in several
changes of clear water and drying it
in a place free from dust or tobacco
litter of any kind. The bulletin also
informs us that bachloride of muir
curry or corrosive sublimate may be
used in place of the formalin, in the
proportion of one part of the bichlor-
ide to 1000 parts of water The same
process of soaking and washing the
seed is required and the bulletin i'm
presses the Importance of treating to-
bacco seed even though it may have
been taken from field which has
always beeen free from tobacco plant
diseases of any kind.
This same bulletin impresses the
necessity of avoiding infection by the
use of new canvas that has been dis
Infected by boiling in water or soak
ing in formaldehyde. 1t also advo-
Gates the steaming, instead of bur
ming of tobacco beds, because 1t kills
weeds more completely and effec'
lively
Caution against the use of diseas-
ed tobacco which may be on hand
as fertilizer for tobacco land is
given in the bulletin, as it is pointed
out that this diseased tobacco can be
used on land for other crops. mas
much as the disease from which to
bacco suffered in previous years
have not beeen known 10 attack any
thing else except tobacco
I'VE expect from time TO time. to
communicate with our members, ad
wise them as to the best methods OF
planting. growing. curing. and to
keep in close touch with them at all
times. We hope all will adopt this
practice of growing good tobacco,
be IL much or little. for II has been
demonstrated on the Lexington loose
leaf market time and again that five
acres of hurley tobacco. properly
planted and tended to maturity, will
bring as much on the market as ten
or even fifteen acres careIessly grown
and handled"
II