The age-herald., 1902-03-30
Tobacco in Connecticut

men represent money, it Is safe to say the Democratic party will have more money to fight with and their opponents less.
 The cost of raising an acre of leaf to- bacco under the new method is of course a prime question as to its feasibility for general adoption. Dr. Jenkins computes that the extra cost of shading and pick ing and stringng, instead of harvesting on the stalk, is $326 an acre, charging the crop with 20 per cent. of the first cost of the frame. which should fast for five years. If the full cost were charged to the first crop the initial outlay would be about $5S0 an acre, which would be of course a serious question to the ordinary farmer But for ordinary purposes a frame is much less costly, and the better price secured, as we'll as the insurance against loss, has already made the new method popular. The yield of pole cured leaf was 125S pounds to the acre, and the crop fermented in bulk brought prices from $40 to s2.50 a pound, averaging $1.9O Connecticut Havana leaf grown in the usual way sells from 30 to 50 cents a pound.
 Dr. Jenkins says, regarding the results of his experiments thus far:
 "The Sumatra leaf raised by us under shade in 1901 was much superior to that raised on the same land in 1900. The green colors, so prominent in the first crop, were almost obliterated in the 1901 crop, and the latter had much more body elasticity, and life and was, therefore. much more acceptable to the manufacturers. But the defects ought also to be noted. Our leaf lacks thus far,
 finish and the colors are dull. But these defects can probably be eliminated by experiment. Careful tests showed that a pound and quarter of our leaf will wrap 1000 cigars where leaf with more body would take two pounds to the 1000 ci- gars The burn of the leaf would better
 with aging We are perfectly satisfied that topping greatly improved the leaf
 and made 1t ripen more evenly from top to base of stalk. Our topping unlike that of a crop of domestic Havana, is done when the plants are in full flower. and a | few weeks before harvest. The leaf last | year was certainly more elastic and less | 'pepery' than the year before, and this summer we ought to still further improve It. By taking off the flower head more i light was let in to the lower leaves, and i had a marked effect in ripening them. We found that under this treatment all | the leaves of the stalk rlpened much
 more uniformly than is usual with do-
 nestle growing The suckers were re- ] moved but once, about a week before | harvesting. If taken off earlier a new lot
 start immediately higher up and draw
 more heavily on the plant than the main
 sucker, which starts nearer the base and
 has, therefore less light. Our experience
 has shown that if the plants are cut more
 learf is damaged than when they are | picked or 'primed'
 "We intend to repeat the experiment
 believing that by getting more body into
 the leaf, by suitable arrangements for
 carting the plants without breaking them | and by curing them in barn, where | there is no primed tobacco to interfere, it | will be possible to make stalk-cured Su- | matra leaf of more desirable quality thar last year produced. Our success with two
 crops, the first raised during season sc dry as to affect the growth of the tobacco and the second during summer unus- | ually cloudy and wet, indicate that Su- matra leaf can be successfully produced | in Connecticut under shade in any season | that Is not abnormal as to rainfall or | sunshine.
 "It is however" said Dr. Jenkins, "a
 new industry. and it must be learned
 slowly by Connecticut and Massachusetts | growers While much may be acquired
 from the ideas and practices prevailing l in Florida, there yet remains much more l which is peculiar to our latitude, and
 which must be experimented with and | learned. The adaptation of methods of
 raising and' harvesting and curing the
 leaf to the local conditions of labor and
 the peculiarities of our climate are essen- | tials, but in them each grower must be | his own teacher. We are not raising Su-
 matra or Florida tobacco, and we are not
 in a Sunatra or F1orioa climate. To suc-
 ceed, our farm practice must be that | which we find best for the leaf under | Col neeticut and Massachusetts condi-
 tions. There is every reason to believe, however, that the Connecticut wrapper | leaf can be sold at paying prices. and | that the rev methods of raising the crop | introduced by us in 1900 may be so man. aged as to be of great value to the to- tacco growers of New England.
 Just as soon as the frost is out of the ground, which will be about April l, the ground, situated on the south side of a hil! or fence, where 1t will not be exposed to cold winds. The seed is sprouted in rotten wood, or between sods indoors till the sleet begins to show. when it is mixed