The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-07-21
THE
Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter,
Edgerton, - Wisconsin.
NOTE BOOK. SKETCHES.


in the present prospects to encourage
the growers in the belief that the '99
crop will be good one. So far the grow
ing season has been about all that could
be wished. The. plants have hardly
stopped growing from the time they were
pulled from the beds and transplanted,
and topping of the early fields have now
commenced. A number of well timed
rains has.kept the soil in condition for
a steady, continuous growth and the
crop promises to mature as quickly as
any of those in recent years. Of course
the critical time for the crop is now at
hand. Heavy storms, or few moments
Of hail could do untold injury to the
growing fields But up to date the crop
bids fair to be sound, large in growth
and coming forward to an early harvest.
***
The new crop is being contracted for
in the fields in the Connecticut valley
about as soon as it has taken root this
year, and buyers have agreed to pay
some fancy prices for it too. This is the
earliest buying of growing tobacco ever
before known. In most cases the con-
tracts are such that, if for any reason
the quality of the crop is poor when de-
livered, or the market price goes off, the
buyer can refuse to take the goods ex
cept at reduced price, while on the
other hand, if the quality is all right and
the market should hold. stiff or should
advance, the buyer will claim the goods
at the contract price. Unless the terms
of these early sales in the field are spe-
officially set forth in a written or printed
contract, it will be seen that such sales
are almost wholly in buyers favor. So
the buying amounts to simply engaging
the crop. Such proceedings generally
lead to an endless amount of trouble at
delivering time and the selling upon the
fields never considered satisfactory
way of disposing of tobacco crop. An
unusual demand for New England wrap
ping stock in the present market is be-
lieved to be the incentive for adventur-
Gus buyers to rush buying at this time.
Xxx
E. N. Phelps writes the N. E. Home
stead:
Wind and hail through July and to
Aug. 10, are the most to be dreaded dur
ing the growing season, and after har
vest the only contingency we have to
contend with is too much damp, warm,
and fOggy weather, which causes sweat
and pole rot, making the crop almost
worthless. Even if the weather is un-
favorable to the curing process, much
of the damage caused thereby can be
largely avoided by prudent handling.
My experience has been during 80 years
of culture, that if farmers who raise the
weed would, while harvesting the to-
bacco, and before hanging it on the
poles, take great deal more pains to
shake it out and separate the leaves from
each other, the worst and a large pro
portion of the sweating and pole rot
might be avoided. The tobacco when
strung upon laths and loaded unto
wagons to be carried to the sheds be
comes matted together, and if not sepa
rated before hanging on the poles, is al
most sure to sweat and rot during any
ordinary season, therefore the greatest
care should be takan in handling and
the tobacco before hanging
on the poles. The whole crop, and the
reputation of it, is endangered and dam
I,
for the time in which it can be harvested
is limited to few days and the grower
is compelled to rush things before frost
comes. A smaller acreage and better
care in growing and handling usually
pans out the most satisfactory and
brings the most money, therefore when
prices are high the growers motto should
be, not an excessive yield, but the same
yield and better goods.
*
There is not much novelty in the prop
osition that bacteria gives admired fla
vors to articles of human consumption,
such, for instance, as cheese and wine.
But practical application of theory
derived from this long asserted principal
will be watched with not little interest
Oy scientists IN general as wen dS Dy men
who smoke tobacco. A German, DR..
desirous of turning the bac-
terra theory to practical account, and, as
a smoker himself, being stimulated by
the high price of Havana cigars and the
execrable quality of German limitations,
has devoted himself to the examination
of Cuban tobacco for bacteria. He found
them: he isolated them: he cultivated
them: he inoculated German tobacco
with them, and the result was cigars of
home grown leaf which affords the pro-
fessor unalloyed delight, and which ex
perts could with difficulty distinguish
from cigars imported from Havana.
There is sequel to this story which
the New York Journal OF Commerce re
counts as follows: The German discov-
cry was not long in attracting. attention
in Florida, where the cigar industry is of
Importance. The State has the
accomplished Cuban cigarmakers, and it |
has a great deal of soil that is not emil
nently useful. 1t will produce tobacco,
but thus far it has not required an ex-