AGRICULTURE 
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yarns of excellent quality. In the Gaspé peninsula, Quebec, a fibre is 
produced superior to any grown elsewhere in Canada. 
The installation of a flax scutching plant at Ste. Anne de la Pocatiere 
in 1924 has done much to revive an interest in flax production in this 
part of Quebec. Indications are that this industry, once very flourishing 
in Quebec, may soon reach its former importance. 
With the excellent opportunities that the valley of the St. Lawrence 
presents for the cultivation of large areas of flax for fibre, it should be pos- 
sible for the province to build up an export trade in this raw material and 
at the same time furnish supplies for home manufacture. Up to the pre- 
sent, the market for Canadian fibre has been almost exclusively in the 
United States from whence we have imported large quantities of flax 
products that could well have been produced in Canada.* 
Tobacco.— Favourable climatic conditions and suitable soil for the 
cultivation of tobacco are to be found north of the St. Lawrence river 
from Berthier to Two Mountains, and south from Yamaska county west 
to the United States border, except, of course, where the nights are too 
a00l to enable the early maturing of the crop. 
The growing of tobacco in the province is not a local industry. The 
area planted to tobacco in the province in 1927 was estimated at 10,018 
acres, and the average yield per acre at 781 pounds. This represents 
a total yield of 7,824,300 pounds, valued at $1,469,217 or about 18% cents 
a pound. A large proportion of the Quebec crop is still used in the raw 
leaf but an increasing portion is taken by the large manufacturers and 
prepared as pipe tobacco, cut or pressed into plugs. 
Varieties Grown.—Selection of the most suitable varieties must 
he governed by the climatic and soil conditions of the locality. The 
season is short, extending from June 8 to the end of August, and experi- 
ments should be made only with the small varieties such as the Canella 
and those of the Havana type of small tobacco (small Havana and Petit 
Rouge.) In spite of the smallness of the leaf, a reasonable yield is readily 
obtainable by setting the plants more closely. These small tobaccos 
mature early and are comparatively easy to cure. Where the growing 
season is a little longer it is possible to grow successfully larger varieties 
of the seed leaf type, like the Havana Seed Leaf, Comstock Spanish and 
Connecticut Havana, as well as a pipe tobacco of rather small size, the 
Belgium Obourg. These tobaccos can be transplanted by the beginning 
of June and harvested before the end of August and sometimes. when the 
season is late, in the first week of September. 
Certain varieties like the Comstock Spanish are in demand as cigar 
binders. Some manufacturers claim that the Canadian binders from the 
" % For further information as to the methad of cultivation, apply to the Dominion Experimental Farm 
Denartment of Agriculture, Ottawa.