The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1903-10-30
X X
Il

A Washington correspondent in out
lining the prospects for an early passage
of the Cuban treaty by Congress- which
eonvenes Nov. 9, says "It is the Presi-
dents hope that the treaty can be put
into force by December l, as he is anx
ious that it should apply to all of the
sugar crop of the current year. He does
not regard the tobacco interests as re-
quiring such prompt assistance as the
producers of sugar, but will nevertheless
insist that the tobacco growers of the
Island are entitled to the same conces-
sions as the growers of cane. AS mat
ter of fact, the President has paid very
little attention to the merits of the treaty
from the standpoint of the tobacco trade,
and it may he said that the ground upon
which he asks Congress to complete the
ratification of the treaty is not that the
concessions are essential to the prosper
ity of the Cubans, but that the United
States stands pledged to put the conven-
ton into force. Little doubt is ex-
pressed here that the House will soon
pass the measure authorizing the reduc-
tions provided by the treaty, but the
prospect in the Senate is by no means so
clear. The cigar and tobacco interests
will ask Congress to eliminate the 20 per
cent concession on Cuban made CIGARS
and while the leaders of the so-called
beet-sugar contingent have withdrawn
their opposition to the treaty, there are
few hard fighters representing North
western constituencies who have not yet
made up their minds to quit the field
and these may come to the aid of the to-
bacco interests
~
It is the practice of many tobacco
growers to cut the tobacco stalks with
an ensilage cutter, obtaining in this way
a fertilizing material regarded by them
as worth four or five times the price of
stable manure. In fact, the value of
stalks is more and more appreciated, and
each season finds the ensilage cutter
added to the equipment of the tobacco
farm. The cutting of the stalks comes
ing, and does not involve great expense,
especially when this item is taken into
consideration with the additional fertil-
uncut. While many of the farmers use
the stalks on their tobacco land, others
prefer to spread them on grass land or
OSC IuCu 1H COuuCSUlOh WILL ObACl CAODos
The cut stalks are easy to apply, being
spread by hand or preferably with ma
nure spreader. The stalks of the tobac-
co plant are said by the investigators to
contain more nitrogen than the stem of
tobacco leaves, and to contain less pot
ash than the stems. The nitrogen in the
stalks runs from to per cent. and in
the stems from to per cent; the pot
ash running 4 to 5 per cent in the stalk
and to 10 per cent. in the stems. The
potash is free from chlorine and most of
it in soluble form. Tobacco stems are
sometimes treated with nitrate of soda
in order to bring up their percentages of
nitrogen. Both the stalks and the stems
seem to be lacking in phosphoric acid
analysis showing about one-half of one
per cent. Analyses made at the Con-
necticut Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion years ago showed that large amounts
of plant food and particularly of potash
are contained in the stalks of tobacco
from which the leaves have been strip
ped. In the Report for 1892, it is shown,
from results of actual field tests, that
the barn-cured stalks from an acre of to-
bacco weigh about $500 pounds and con-
tain about 80 pounds of nitrogen, eight
of phosphoric acid, Ii of lime and 49 of
potash. That is, about one third of the
plant food taken up by a tobacco crop is
contained, after curing, IN the stalks.
TX
Several tobacco growers in the East
are experimenting this year with appa-
ratus intended artificially to produce the
dampness required for the taking down
of the tobacco from the poles. The plan
most favored seems to be the introduc-
tion of steam into the sheds in such
way as to obtain the desired degree of
humidity in the air without any chance
of cooking or otherwise injuring the
hanging tobacco. The experiments which |
are being conducted in this line are of |
great value to the tobacco growing
trade, and the moistener will doubtless |
be generally adopted when it arrives. At |
the present time, however, there is not
sufficiently exact information on hand to !
convince all of the tobacco growers that |