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themselves of its virtues. Barnyard manure, as all know, does not come up to this requirement. Decomposition must take place before it can give crops the assistance expected of it. In the case of tobacco, it is more likely to benefit the crop which comes after the tobacco, than the tobacco itself. These several facts are so clearly established as to be beyond contradiction, and to-day the more advanced growers give more attention to commercially prepared fertilizers than to the pro duct of their own stables.

EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS AND THEIR WORK.

Allusion having been made in the preceding paragraph to the experimental stations now established by the State, fuller mention of them and their work will be appropriate here. The first appropriation for this purpose was made by the State Legislature in 1892, and experimental stations were established during the same year at Rocky Springs and at Donegal, both in Lancaster county. The Lancaster County Tobacco Growers' Association was instrumental in securing this appropriation. Appropriations were made by succeeding Legislatures until two years ago, when they were discontinued, owing to the reduced condition of the State finances. In order to continue the good work, and to give the tobacco growers the benefit of further experimentation, the present efficient and honored head of the Department of Agriculture has, out of the too limited appropriation made to his own department, advanced the necessary funds to carry on the work of the Experimental Stations at Donegal and at Bradford during the past two seasons.

EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS AT THE EXPERIMENTAL STA

TIONS.

The practice from the beginning has been to divide the ground into twenty different plats, of equal size, numbering them consecutively from one to twenty. On two plats the same fertilizer is tried, but the plats themselves are not contigious, other plats lying between them, so that should there be any difference in the soil, or any other differences, they may be made apparent. Dr. William Frear, of the State College, has prepared all the artificial fertilizers for these plats from the beginning, and the several formulas, as well as outside fertilizers that are tried, are all carefully marked on head boards affixed to each plat.

It is not necessary to give the results of these experiments in detail. A few general results may however be mentioned. The plats that were treated with hard wood ashes have shown up very poorly for several years in succession, both in dry and wet seasons, thus exploding the theory that ashes were a superior fertilizer for this crop. Stable manure has been equally disappointing when used by itself. Almost every fertilizer that has been tried, has done better than wood ashes and stable manure.

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One of the various formulas prepared by Dr. Frear, and tried every year, is the following:

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The quantities given are the rate applied per acre. In five successive seasons this compound has demonstrated its excellence. Unfortunately this fertilizer is not on the market, but has been prepared for these experiments only, in the laboratory.

The other fertilizer which gave the best results was supplied by a Chicago firm. The results that followed its use were highly satisfactory, and the tobacco on the plat is among the best on the entire field. It is known as Tobacco Formula No. 2, and its composition as set forth on the packages is as follows:

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In this tobacco fertilizer the tobacco grower has a mature, ready made, which has shown itself eminently adapted to his needs, and which, unlike the first mentioned, is easily procurable.

On all the plats on the farm, Havana seed was the variety planted, and all the plats were planted on the same day and in the same way. It is not too much to say that the small amount of money these experiment stations have cost, has been amply paid back in the interesting and valuable information they have brought out year after year. Wide awake tobacco growers have learned much from them.

TOBACCO BARNS.

Less change has taken place in the construction of tobacco barns than anywhere else along the entire line of tobacco growing. The old type of curing shed is too well known to require description here. All new barns are constructed with horizontal side openings instead of vertical ones, the doors operated by a series of levers. The opinion has been advanced by some of the most skilful growers that a single horizontal opening one or two feet wide, at the floor, and a corresponding slatted opening at the comb of the roof, would be best of all.

The "Snow process" of curing tobacco has been tried at the Donegal

Station. This requires a close barn. The leaves are striped from the stalk as they ripen, the lower ones of course, first; they are taken to the barn in baskets and hung on wires attached to the usual laths. In this way much more tobacco can be put in a barn, than when the entire plant is hung up. The curing is then done by artificial heat. This prevents mould, and other casualties and the entire process is easily controlled. As this process requires a costly barn, and its superiority is not fully demonstrated, it has not been introduced in this State to any extent.

THE TRANSPLANTING MACHINE.

While tobacco planters have been very generally introduced in other States, Pennsylvania held off until a few years ago, and even now more than half the crop, perhaps three-fourths, it still planted by hand. This is no doubt owing to two reasons; first, because the machines cost a good deal of money, and secondly because the acreage of tobacco by the majority of Pennsylvania tobacco growers is too small to warrant the purchase of a planter by any except large growers. But this difficulty is now overcome either by a number of growers purchasing one jointly, or by the purchase by some one man who then plants tobacco for his neighbors. There is no question about the superiority of machine planting over hand planting. The plants can be set evenly at any desirable distance apart. The planter can carry a supply of water when the season is dry, so that plants can be set out whenever they are ready, no matter whether the ground is in proper condition or not. A fertilizer attachment can also be used, which is an additional advantage. By this machine, planting a single row at a time, from three to six acres can be planted in a day. Machine planted tobacco gets a quicker start than hand planted, and few sound plants fail to grow. The better the ground is prepared, the better the work done by the machine. It seems likely that in a few years most of our tobacco will be planted in this way.

CUTTING TOBACCO IN THE FIELD.

Years ago the men who went into the tobacco field to cut down the plants, were provided either with a light hatchet, a corn cutter or even a small saw. The stalk was bent over, and the implement applied close to the ground. It was a slow as well as an unhandy process, and has been greatly improved upon. At present a pair of steel bladed shears, with sockets attached at a certain angle, into which wooden handles are fixed, is the article principally used. The operator walks along the row, applies the stout blades of his shears to the stalk, and aided by the leverage in the long handles, easily and quickly cuts down the plants without even touching them and deftly causes them to fall away from the row. It is a great improvement on the old method.

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