Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-08-21
EXPERIMENT wlrn EASTERN METHODS.
Land Purchase on Which o Attempt Tobacco Gu
ture Under Coyer-Many Buyers
Skirmishing.
ROCK WOOD VIII. EXPERIMENT..

-
The Connecticut manner of growing
tobacco will be tried and thoroughly
tested in our midst. The system we
refer to is growing crops under can.
vas cover. The first move in this Iii.
rection has been made nv Mr.. T. ID.
lockwood Of Broadhead, who has pur-
chased from Ananias Smith. in the
south west portion of the CITY imma-
diately ror'h of the old Dan Wise resi-
ie"ce, eight acres of desirable land on
which Mr. lockwood will iuaugurate
rho svstein The spot is peculiarly we'll
sp. led To the purpose and soil is right
This will he an innovation in western
tobacco culture that will be looked for
ward to with great expectancy hv grow.
ers of the weed If successful, of which
there s little room to doubt, Vernon
county growers can profit by the ex
perienca of Mr.. lockwood. who will be
public benefactor ~ teacher of
advanced methods to the west.
A BIG HUSTLE FOR THE WEED.
This is q week of great activity in
tobacco matters Nearly every grower
is cutting and housing his crop. The
weather is very hot and dry and the
under more favorable conditions. While
there are very many GOO fields of the
weed it will not compar ls a whole
in quality or quantity with last seasons
growth as it was then harvested The
uneven condition of many fields will
cause the harvest TO be long drawn out.
So dry is it at the present writing that
little growth for the future can he ex-
al fxlN !.
placed in the sheds this year that would
not have been touched in other and bet
ter growing years But the prices are
that will weigh will likely be harvested.
The county painting acreage was ma
terially greater than at any peevious
year, yet in bulk and weight we doubt
if it will exceed two-thirds that of last
year. Leaves as whole are not as
branching or long as usual and the
tendency ia to thick growth. Notwith-
standing these failiugs Vernon is by far
the largest and best producer of tobacco
in the state today. and our people are
pretty sure to make up much in price
what they lose in quantity and quality.
AS qualification to this last statement
the CENSOR has only TO refer to the
every growing section of the county.
Monday there arrived at the station in
this city eight or ten buyers represent
ing the American Cigar Compay, with
large houses at Madison and Sparta.
They did not even wait TO register at
the hotels, but their manager, Mr.
lockwood, who has been here for some
time had carriages awaiting them at
the depot and they were driven immedi
ately to all quarters where tobacco is
grown in the county They were
promptly followed by the representa-
tives of extensive eastern firms. The
local dealers have been riding and keep.
ing track of matters and buying for
some time With these different active
agencies securing the country the farm
er will have opportunity to size up the
situation and take advantage of the de-
termination of these representatives to
secure as much of the crop as possible
for their houses The CENSOR is advised
that there had been little goods sold be-
fore she present week, but that the
te mpting prices offered left little for
farmers to do but accept, and we doubt
not that many hundred acres of the
weed willshave' been contracted for be-
we are assured are ranging from eight
to fourteen cents, and one local buyer
said he did not doubt that the prices
would be put up to quite an advance
over that figure.
EDGERToN TOBACCO REPORTERS NOTES
The growing tobacco crop seems to be
doing the best it can under the trying
weather conditions that continue TO pre-
vail The tobacco belt of southern Wis
consin still remains under the shadow of
the most severe drouth that i mas ever
experienced The few rains tnat have
fallen brought but temporary relief at
best and the long looked for soaking
showers are yet to come. Cooler wealth
er has helped to allay some OF the parch-
ing effects and the fields are making
some growth even on soils where appar-
antly there can be no moisturs left. But
the growth ia most cases is a narrow,
pinched leaf with disposition to bud
early that IL seldom witnessed in Wis
consin tobacco Another discouraging
feature is the lateness of the crop. Here
it is past the middle of August and fully
one half the living tobacco has not yet
been topped AT least month or six
weeks Immunity from fcosts will be
ret, ,uired to secure q harvest Ii seems
scarcely reasonable TO suppose that
frosts will be that long delayed. II
soaking rains were 10 come now Mt this
late day, the recently topped tobacco
would increase some in size and improve
in quality, but we are past all hope Of
binder crop in 1901
Compared with the coma tions that
prevailed year ago this date, the con
trast is particularly discouraging. The
harvest was then well along by the mid
die Of August aud scarcely any of the
fields but had been topped at that date
There are but few Of the very early set
fields that the harvesting has yet com
menced, while vast amount of topping
IL yet to be done to say nothing OF the
fields that will hardly he harvested at
all unless the fall is necessarily long,
Tobacco has been grown in the older
Fections of Dane and Rock counties for
the past forty years, but we question If
farmers can recall single season when
the outlook for the crop presented as
poor showing 1t is unquestionably
the nearest thing 10 total failure ever
seen and there have been some poor
crops grown in the state before.
Something In name.