The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1903-11-20
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES.

A communication has been received
from Gov. w. D. Hoard, president of the
state commission of the ST. Louis Expo
sition, urging that measures be taken to
make a creditable display of Wisconsin
tobacco as distinctive feature of the
state exhibit Gov. Hoard intimates
that his commission mas no funds from
which to make an appropriation for this
purpose and suggests that enterprising
growers and people in the trade take up
the matter and raise the necessary
amount. This is subject which appeals
to everyone that would like to advance
the interests of Wisconsin tobacco and
some movement looking towards bring
ing a united effort of the growers and
dealers of the state ought to be set on
foot without delay. Tobacco is to have
a prominent space in the Palace of Agri-
culture at the st. Louis Exposition.
First will be shown tools and implements
used in the cultivation of the crop and
next will come the tools used IN har
| vesting. Then will be shown a repro
duction of a curing barn with all its ac-
cessories. The building will oe sur
rounded by four fields of growing tobacco
illustrating the growth and habit of the
| Sumatra and Havana types of tobacco.
| The next section will show packing or
fermenting house. Here will be illus
| trated the methods of curing by fermen-
tation, also sorting and grading the leaf.
| Another section will be devoted largely
to the statistics of the crop in the sever
al tobacco growing states The tobacco
from each state will be grouped together
under the name of the state. Further
on another section will take the visitor
into the realms of manufacturing show
| ing the machinery used in transforming
the tobacco into merchantable forms.
*x*
| It has been pointed out that the pro-
posed reciprocity treaty with Cuba,
which seems likely to be pushed through
cons sress, discriminates largely against
| the domestic manufacturer of clear Ha-
vana cigars, which has become large
industry at Tampa, Key West and other
points. A reduction of 20 per cent in
both the specific and ad valorem rate of
duty on cigars made in Cuba is bound
to curtail most materially the output of
our clear Havana cigar industry if it does
not wipe out entirely it's ten cent trade.
For the effect of the 20 per cent reduc-
tion wall be to swamp our market with
imported ten cent cigars. And as the
imported cigars are both distinguished
and advertised by the import stamp
I'thcre are not many smokers OF ten cent
clear Havana cigars who will not give
the preference to the imported cigar il
for no other reason than because of its
testified genuineness. 1t was to preserve
the home market for the ten cent cigar,
that the high rate of duty was imposed
on the foreign product. And the result
was such a boom for the clear Havana
cigar industry that it became the most
prosperous branch of our entire cigar in
dustry But by this reduction its pros
perity and the possibility of it's further
iexpansion is to be sacrificed.
The fears expressed in this column
last week that the big Chicago failures
might prove embarrassing to the leaf
trade in general, seem likely to be real
lied as the following New York dispatch
would indicate: "As an outcome of the
failure of Sutter Brothers, importers,
packers and dealers in leaf tobacco IN
Chicago and this city, the wholesale to-
bacco district, embracing several blocks
in lower Manhattan, has been excited by
| ~ -
out of town institutions to extend them
credit. AS most of the Sutter liabilities,
running close to 100000, was in mon
sterdam, Cuba and elsewhere quickly
asked that their accounts here be set
tied Immediately. When banks were Wis
tied in the hope of securing funds on
promissory and accommodation paper to
meet these demands, it is said, the
would be borrowers found it hard mat
ter to negotiate loans. AS consequence
business in the tobacco district suddenly
! experienced a great contraction, but no
serious results are yet apparent"
! ~
| Extensive experiments were conduct
| ed during the past summer in Connect
cut with the idea of obtaining strains of
| tobacco seeds which will produce plants
closely resembling a standard, both as
regards the plant itself and the shape
and quality of the leaf It is believed
| that if such a strain can be secured it
will greatly increase the yield per acre
| and the quality of the leaf that can be
| raised. The work has been in charge of
| A. D. Shamel, seed expert of the United
| States Department of Agriculture. Most
of the experiments were carried on at
the shade growing farms of the Connec-
ticut Tobacco corporation and the In
| dian Head plantation at Tarifville. The
object of the experiments at the Indian
Head plantation was to raise plants
| from an individual plant, selected a year
ago as being the best in 10 acre field.
Plants grown in tract 60 rods square
reproduced very closely the type of the
mother plant Each stalk had from "a
to 80 leaves, the leaves being of excel
lent quality. The best plants from this
II e.,1r III