The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1901-11-22
THE
Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter,
Edeeron. Wisconsin.
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES.


The weather so far this fall has
brought very little casing weather and
as result local tobacco buyers have had
less opportunity to examine the crop IN
the curing sheds than for several years
past at this date. Ordinarily samples OF
every new crop are gathered as soon as
the leaf is cured sufficiently to permit it
and forwarded to the eastern markets, so
that long before buying is usually start
ed, the leading firms are as familiar with
the merits of the crop as their local rep
resentative. In this respect the present
crop seems to be an exception. TO be
sure it was late in the harvest and un-
usually slow in the curing, and as yet
there has been an absence of casing
weather when the buyers could critically
examine the crop or secure the custom
ary samples of the cured leaf Such
conditions are conducive to late buying,
for it can hardly be expected that buyers
will rush into the field and purchase
crop that came up under the most dis
couraging weather conditions, until they
have been thoroughly informed regard
ing it's merits. The first return of cas-
ing weather is likely to induce consider
able activity among the buyers whether
there is general movement of the crop
in the southern growing counties or not
~
The policy Of the administration in
the coming congress in disposing OF the
enormous surplus that is piling up in
the national treasury has been outlined
as ieaniug towards the removing of the
last of the revenue war taxes. This
means that the tax on cigars and manu-
factured tobacco would be put back to
the old figures. This probability causes
the u. S. Tob. Journal, which is usually
long ways ahead of the procession, to
suggest that the duties on foreign leaf
be also reduced. Outside the importers
such a proposition will find very few
supporters. 1t would most assuredly
arouse storm of protest from the do
mestic tobacco growers and the dealers
as we'll. But the policy announced prom
ises that the present tariff laws shall not
be disturbed, hence little fear is expect
ed from this quarter.
*x*
At the present rate the 1900 Wiscon-
sin crop is being taken in eastern mar
ket by the manufacturers, fears are al
ready expressed that the entire crop will
be absorbed long before the extraordi-
nary demand for it ceases. It has long
been understood that the supply was
away short of the usual offerings of Wis
consin leaf and the far seeing manufact-
urers who loaded up early are the espec-
tally fortunate ones. The additional
price demanded has proven no embar-
rassment to ready sale for the unusual
quality of the goods more than compen-
sated. The record made for Wisconsin
leaf this season will do much to break
down the prejudice that our tobacco
must be handled between certain limits
and hereafter the trade will be willing to
admit the merits of the goods will prove
the governing price. One fact, how
ever, stands out prominently which is
the local markets are now more bare of
old leaf than any time within the past
ten years.
*x*
We do not think enough attention has
been given, either here or elsewhere,
says the Lancaster New Era, to the ex-
periments carried on in Lancaster last
winter by the government experts in fer
menting tobacco in the bulk, and we be-
lieve the result of that work deserves to
be better known, not only here at home
but abroad. Experiments were carried
on at eight different warehouses in bulk
sweating, and in all nearly or quite 10000
cases were fermented in that way. The
black rot question appears to have been
entirely eliminated by this process. It
is true, there has been less than the u.s.
ual amount of black rot and must in the
case-sweated tobacco, showing that the
crop was less liable to that damage than
it generally is, but still there was some;
while in the bulk sweated there was
none at all, comparatively speaking.
Those who practiced it are so we'll salts
fed that they are not likely to go back
to the old plan, while the present indica
tions are that the practice will become
very general hereafter, especially where |
the packings are large enough to incur
the expense of the necessary apparatus. |
Some dealers have prejudice against |
this method, claiming that it is force |
sweated, but that is mistake, because |
the idea pursued by the governments |
has been to keep up
only summer temperature. and have |
the tobacco generate its own heat, just |
as it does when sweating in cases in the |
summer. There can be no plausible OBJ |
lection to such a method, as it is the |
identical one practicedin Sumatra, Cuba |
and Florida, and no one ever hears of |
objections to those tobaccos in the mat |
ter of fermentation. A strong argument /
in favor of bulk curing is that every |
hand is cured evenly; there is no raw to-
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