The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1904-04-22
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES.


1908 crop still remaining in country
hands, a good portion of which is yet in
the bundle. If the dealers could be as
sured that the tobacco would come
through the sweat in sound condition,
there are plenty of buyers who stand
ready to take all that portion of the crop
that is suitable to the needs of the do
mestic manufacture There is vast
amount of cheap stuff in country hands
of nondescript type that is neither
suitable for home consumption nor good
enough to answer the demands of the
exporters Where to find an outlet for
this class of goods is the question. The
strippers might use limited portion OF
them and another portion might go TO
the cutters but it is doubtful if these de-
mands would take twenty five to thirty
thousand cases of low grades for any lm-
mediate use. Buying, however is grad
ually reducing the unsold portions OF
the crop and if the movement continues
a few weeks to come at the same rate
there will not be enough left to need
cause very much alarm on this score.
The exporters have been liberal BUYERS
so far and If orders continue the situa-
tion will be considerably relieved. The
fact, however, remains that the state has
much larger share of poor tobacco than
| for some years past.
Experiments that have been carried
on in testing tobacco seed by specific
| gravity shows that good results have
been obtained by planting the heaviest
| seed. By placing the tobacco seed in
water, it was observed that only one
| half of the seed sunk TO the bottom of
the vessel. The seeds . .Ich foated on
the surface of the water were neverthe-
less able to germinate, but gave less Wig
| orous plants during their whole develop
ment. By sowing the seed which foated,
and those which sank, the experiment
established the fact that all of the plants
| grown from the heavy seeds were green
er, taller and more vigorous than the
plants raised from the light seed. The
seedlings transplanted in the same field,
alternating plant from heavy seed with
a plant from light seed, preserved their
| characters, the plants from the heavy
seed having the more desirable leaves
and producing the best plants. The
plants from the light seed developed
more slowly and had tendency to bloom
before having reached sufficient develop
ment. The weight of leaves from plants
grown from the light seed was hardly
one half that of the leaves harvested
from the plants grown from the heavy
seed. There is no doubt that consider.
able advantage is to be derived from
this easy selection of the heavy seed.
The heavy seed thus planted will give
more vigorous plants producing better
leaves. but with a tendency to bloom
little later than plants grown from the
| light seed.
For some years past the farmers in
| certain portions of Wisconsin have been
| devoting nearly all their attention to the
| growing of tobacco, not in small patches
of one, two and three acres, but in areas
| OF from five to thirty acres. Of course
they could not give such large quantities
| the careful attention tobacco requires,
| and that, along with bad weather and
| other drawbacks, has hammered down
the prices this year until the profits
have become almost invisible. The re-
| suit has been that they are lending their
ears to the persuasions of the beet sugar
manufacturers, and will probably raise
! less tobacco this season and turn their
| attention to sugar beets. They should
not forget that if tobacco packers are re-
| 1or 1F ka
crop, and pay so little for that which 1
| they do accept, the fault is in the tobac-
co itself, and not in the business itself.
The fact is, there never was better de-
mand for really desirable cigar tobacco
than at this very moment Lancaster
| pa. New Era.
The American Cultivator says: The
rather dubious condition of the shade
grown tobacco industry was brought out
by the recent testimony of f. B. Griffin,
who, as receiver of the National Tobacco
Culture Corporation, has had in his
charge about eighty thousand pounds of
the product He told Judge Wheeler
that he had sold some of it, one bale, for
So pound, and he had sold more of it
az i/2 CCutS q pOuIlus L Iu0 average pTlC0
was 6o.S cents pound He had endeav-
ored to dispose of the tobacco among
jobbers, but there was but little demand
for it, but he was gradually working
little of it off. He said that he had re-
ceived one offer for all the shade grown
in his possession. The offer was IL cents
pound. Mr.. Griffin thought the offer
was too low and refused it. He said
that it costs about 81 pound to get
shade-grown in the bundle ready for |
market. The international Tobacco |
Culture Corporation grew 55 acres in the |
open last year. Mr.. Griffin, as receiver,
sold this tobacco, receiving 1034c pound !
for the Havana and 15c for the broad |
leaf, assorted. He said that it cost !
about 10c a pound to grow tobacco in |
the open, and with the loss and shrink |
age in the crop of last year it had cost
70 Al. Il