Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-10-29
willing to do all in his power for the
protection of the industry.

President +. n. Phelps, of the New
England Tobacco Growers association,
was loudly called for to give his expert
ence in tobacco culture He had raised
tobacco fifty years, and besides that
had bought. sold, manufactured and
smoked large quantities of it. He had
seen it range from fouI cents. even then
giving growers a good profit, to forty
seven cents
ln Connecticut the best soil is sandy
loan with sand subsoil On this they
used horse manure heavily. Artificial
manures were at first used but now are
not touched. Cow manure he did not
like although it was better than the ar
tifical. The only substitute he claims
is castor pomace made from the castor
bean. This costs about twenty-five dol
lars per ton. and one ton is sufficient
for an acre. La Wisconsin it might be
more than enough.
Tobacco is set in Connecticut three
feet between rows and eighteen inches
between plants in the row. This gives
fine leaf with considerable size. 1t is
cultivated only one way. Before set
ting.a ridge is run ever the field, and
in the ridge the plant is set. They let
plants stand from seventy to eighty
days, and set about the middle of June.
The time to top is when the blossom
begins to show, and it should stand af-
ter that from four to six weeks, being
suckered twice. This allows the plant
to ripen, for an unripe plant is absolute
ly worthless. 1t looks well when being
packed, but often in the sweat it be-
comes fulled out and inferior. He said
that before cutting tobacco while green,
he would let the frost cut it for him.
When cut it should never be left on the
ground as it becomes bruised. When an
exceedingly fine article is wanted, he
favored hanging to strings by poles
This does not let it cure so fast, as the
split stalk dries faster. For dark leaf,
keep doors closed, and for light leaf,
open them. Farmers who sort their
own tobacco never realize as high
price for it as they might, because they
class according soundness rather than
quality. This IS entirely wrong, as an
unsound leaf of good quality is worth
much more than an unsound leaf of
poor quality. Leaf should be handled
as little as possible after stripping
For tobacco land the best lot on the
farm must be used, and it must be kept
well MANFRED. There is no use in try
ing to raise the crop on poor soil; that
is the trouble with much of the leaf now
in the market. He always manfred in
the tall and plowed 1t under and then
plowed it twice more in the spring.
This made much less labor in cultiva-
ton than there would be otherwise.
When all the laud on farm is equally
good he believed in rotation of crops,
putting in grass for three years and
then tobacco.
B. ID. lockwood was called for and
read a paper on Tobacco" In that
part of his paper relating to the raising
of plants, he says;
The first thing necessary to a sue
cessful venture in the production of a
crop of tobacco. is good even stand
of plants. There are two ways of get
ting them-by purchasing and raising.
The latter way is far the best. Take a
piece of ground sheltered from the
north and west winds, where the sun
can strike a geodly part of the day;
make it rich with compost; use sand,
lime and ashes in the preparation,
which is best done in the fall; line it off
into beds of convenient width fer weed
ing and pulling, threw them up little
so as to drain freely, but not wash.
You will have no trouble to rake and
pulverize the surface as early as you
may wish to in the spring. From the
first to the tenth of April is the usual
time of sowing the seed, which should
be of the best variety, and about one
half an ounce to the square rod. Buy
the best sced-I refer to that variety
which has given Wisconsin position
in the markets among the first as a
cigar leaf producing state, familiarlv
known as the Comstock seed. Be sure
you get it as pure and far back as pos
sible. We have rotated our seed too
much. There are many methods of
sowing the seed and caring for the beds
afterward, number Of which are good.
| would advise you to follow your form
er habits, if you have been successful;
il not. 60 to some good producer who
always has plants to sell, and get his
theory, practice it to the letter, but
don't try too many on the same beds;
have beds enough in each change of
theory, either of which, if successful,
will be competent for your entire plant
ing. Then you will have plants TO sell,
too; have but one variety in your crop,
it will be more uniform and give better
SatiSfant ion tn the trada