The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1904-11-25

Mention was made in this column last
year of method of artificial casing of to-
bacco adopted by New England growers,
and,'Ssne> results obtained will be of inter-
est to all tobacco men. Hence the fol-
lowing observation of correspondent of
the Cultivator is in order:
Last year more tobacco was injured by
water than by the steam. The weather
was very cold when the steaming was
done. The steam was condensed, and
such water as was formed by such con-
densation was frozen upon the tobacco
as it was hanging, Or there was an in
suflciency of steam to dampen the stems
and water was added to carry out the
dampening process. If the former was
the true way in which the damage was
accomplished, the cause should be
avoided in any future attempt, and the
work done only on warm days and in the
middle of the day. When water was the
result of condensation, such water as it
was, being frozen, would naturally form
into drops, and not freeze in a thin
Sheet covering the entire surface of the
leaf, and when the tobacco was haked
up in warm place, the ice thawed and
soaked the leaf too much in spots. The
water remaining not being dried out,
the fibre of the leaf was destroyed, and
the leaf seemed as though struck with
the sweat rot, or almost pole rotted. La
regard to the use of water, there may be
times when the situation will warrant
the farmer to use very little Of it, but
the gain from it's use will not cOmpen-
safe the average grower for the damage
that often arises from it's too free use.
A man not used to applying the water is
apt to put on too much, and then in
packing the tobacco down and not NOV
ing it, the water is likely to be in too
large quantities in some places. If water
is to De used at all, it should be done
With a very fine brush, Or one should
use an automizer. If he uses that ma
chine he will not get on too much water,
for ne will get out of wind or "elbow
grease" before he gets the stuff soaked
very much. When tobacco is to be dam
pened it should be we'll shaken and piled
up loosely in warm room, and allowed
to remain in such pile or hake over
night and the next day stripped. Ii put
into bundles, the bundles should be kept
in warm room for day or two before
being put into cold shed. Such tobac-
co will not be damaged by the use of
limited amount of water. But [ have
seen a man take pail of water and an
old wornout broom and soak the water
right onto it. Such usage will be almost
sure to damage the crop if not carefully
attended to for two or more days. When
one thinks how much steam or fog
pail of water will make, he will wonder
he has not ruined his crop. A pailful OF
water will make 300 or 400 pounds OF
tobacco quite wet
***
A two days session of tobacco growers
of Virginia and Kentucky was held on
November 10 and IL at Lynchburg, Va,
and an organization perfected to be
known as the American Tobacco Grow
ers' Association, the object OF which is
to fix the prices of tobacco. The meet
ing was held at the instance of call is
sued by the American Society of Equity,
for the purpose of forming a national
body, the objects of which are to ascer-
tain the amount of tobacco in different
states and to set price at which the
same shall be sold The committee on
prices reported to the convention that
the average prices on tobacco all around
shall be: For Virginia, SO for dark to-
bacco, S12 for light; for Kentucky, 50
for dark, and SD for hurley tobacco
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