The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-19
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE

noon by notable party, for the in-
 spection of the growing of Sumatra to-
 bacco under cover, for which the com
 munity has become famous this year.
 In the party were the Hon. James Will
 son, secretary of agriculture, Represen-
 tattve E. Stevens Henry, Professor Mill
 ton T. Whitney, chief of the soils divi- sion, department of agriculture, and
 Paul Ackerly of Rockville. Secretary
 Wilson came from Providence, accom-
 panied by Professor Whitney, at the
 invitation of Expert M. L. Lloyd, who | is in charge of the shade growing ex-
 perimental work in Connecticut, with
 headquarters at Tariffville, and of
 Ariel Mitchelson, the big tobacco grow
 CT of Tariffvlle, who has so many acres
 of tobacco under cover this season.
 The visitors came on the noon train
 from Hartford, and when greetings were over were entertained at lunch by Mir and Mrs. Joseph c. Mitchelson
 After lunch they were taken for tour
 of inspection. The tobacco was found
 to be in excellent shape, in spite of the
 reports which have come in from vari- | JUS SCGllOl5 oL lilC Jeil NCulIlGI t'Oilul-
 tions, and Secretary Wilson, Congress-
 man Henry and Professor Whitney
 were all very much pleased with the showing made which refiecas credit on the department expert, and also upon
 Mir. Mitchelson, who has had the en-
 terprise and nerve to go into growing
 under cover on a large scale while the industry is still in an experimental stage in Connecticut. The visitors were shown the reports
 of the cost of putting up the frames in Tariffville, Sufiield, Pine Meadow, Mar
 bledale and Poquonock, as we'll as data relating to the conditions of planting and the way in which the crop had made its start The party proceeded to the fields under cover and experienced the pleasure of being under these heat holding shelters, with the thermometer high enough outside. They stood the tropical climate bravely however, in the cause oe science, and made care full examination os the frame work manner of attaching the cloth, and oth- CT details, as we'll as of the appearance of the tobacco plants. The shelter Is high enough to allow the driving of carriages under the cheesecloth The temperature was ten degrees higher than outside.
 The poles used are chestnut cut twelve feet long, and put in the ground three feet leaving nine feet projecting. The cloth which Is a heavy c. B. cheesecloth, made in Fall River. came in width of sixteen and one half feet, t- ta o,,+I i,er ,,,It one way of the field to wires which run the other way! This saves the use of the scantlings or stringers both ways, forming the roof, as was the case in Po- quonock last year. The heavier cheesecloth is believed to be more sat- isfactory, and part of the good and thrifty appearance of the plants under cover Is ascribed to the use of this cloth. The shelter was damaged some what by the wind storm of ten days ago, but 1t was repaired in day and q half. The covering more than paid for Itself in protecting the tobacco from a recent hail storm, when the stones were very large. The tobacco is as high as a mans head, the leaves running about twenty two inches in length.
  iuiry In regard to the cost of putting up the frame, and was told that it was not more than $320 or $340 an acre for everything the posts, cloth and labor. The detailed prices of the material are as follows, considering the lumber is eut from the farmers own wood lot: | l96 poles at ten cents, $10 60: 1000 feet | 1f stringers at ten dollars per thou sand, s20; total cost of poles and string ,rs, per acre, s3x.60. If the lumber has To be bought outright the cost would | ,e about twice this amount. or 80. | To this must be added possibly fifteen | 1r twenty dollars for the base boards, | It Is expected that the chestnut poles l will last for ten years. The cost of the | 10th will be between $150 and $1S5 an lcre and some of the farmers will be lhle to put up their frames and have everything complete for S260 or $500; ,ut s325 is given as the outside price.
 The growing of Sumatra leaf in Con- lecticut is In direct line with the poli- y adopted by Secretary Wilson for the work of the department of agriculture, hat is, that the department shall in- yest in such branches Of farming and orestry as will enable the United States to produce within its borders all if the food and other agricultural pro iucts that 1t consumes. This policy, as aid down by the secretary, has attract d special notice since the requirement f the new possessions, embracing diff erent atmospheric conditions under he tropics. and affords the United ;tates the opportunity of producing ev- " known kind of vegetable, plant and rec upon it's own territory, and thus welding the great annual payment of rib,lte to the farmers and foresters of oreign countries.
 The tobacco problem is one of the 1ost important of the questions upon which MT Wilson and his staff are ,orking, for this country Is paying to oreign producers about six million ollars for Sumatra tobacco every year. 0 1t can be seen how much importance IF Wilson places upon this compara veIy small experiment in the Connect l ut valley, which started with the lit e plot oS shade-eoNeIeu land on the arm Of John A. DuBon at Poquonock, nder the supervision of Mir DuBon as he manager Of the Connecticut Valley ( obacco Growers Experiment compa- V. of MT Floyd as the departments xpert, and O. pr. F. H. Jenkins of lew Haven. the director Of the State | xperiment station, and continued this ear on the different farms whose own- rs have taken up shadegrowing as
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