The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1905-10-20
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES
;:..::.:*.:.:.:.:....::.:..::.:....::.

::.'.:::*.*:.-.:...:...:s:. :s:.:.:.:.::..::::.::.:
The first casing weather since the new
crop was cured came during the week
and moist conditions prevailed long
enough to bring the hanging crop into
very fair condition for stripping. The
previous long season of forty days of
warm, dry weather had served to cure
out the greater portion of the sheds so
that very little moisture remained in
either stalk or stem and the tobacco is
in as good condition for stripping as
frequently comes in early winter. There
need be no occasion to wait for the first
hard freeze this season as is frequently
done before starting the work. Just how
much tobacco will be taken down during
the casing spell is not yet determined
probably not as much as the packers
holding large contracts would like te
see. Other farm work is not SO far ad-
vanced that very many growers have the
time or inclination now to turn their
attention to the tobacco. Some portions
of the crop however will be removed
from the poles, enough to indicate how
the crop will look when placed in the
bundle. The packers who have con-
tracted for large acreage are of course
most anxious to see early stripping pre-
vail. They know they have a large
winters work of warehouse handling,
and the sooner they can get started and
their help organized the better it will
suit them. If they could induce grow
ers to strip out portion of the crop
early, they might get the warehouses
under way in December and the packing
points would have good month ahead
of the average season. In any event
there promises to be a good deal of the
tobacco money in circulation for the
holidays.
The leaf dealers of Lancaster, Pa, at
meeting held recently decided to issue a
circular to growers embracing the follow
ing points:
"To allow the tobacco to remain in the
curing sheds until the large rib in the
leaf is entirely dried out and will break
on being bent; to use no water in the
stripping room; not to break the stripp-
ed tobacco in the stripping cellars; not
to place lower Or sand leaves among the
better grades of tobacco, and also to get
rid of paying from to IA cents per
pound for the paper in which the grow
ers deliver crops and which cost them
only three and four cents per pound On
large crop of tobacco, this item of pa
per means good deal of money for
which the packer gets no return"
***
The period during which tobacco
should hang before it is sufficiently cur
ed to take down depends on the weather
and progress of the cure. In good sea-
son early cut tobacco can be taken down
in six weeks; late cut tobacco requires
more time when the weather is cold be-
fore the stems are thoroughly cured
Water should never be used to dampen
tobacco. If it does not at once show it's
effects will do so in the bale or box long
afterwards unless it is very carefully
and sparingly used. To properly de-
scribe the way of asserting end caring
for crop of tobacco when cured would
be a volume in itself, writes W. F. And
ross of Connecticut. AS manipulated to-
day, suffice it to say good crop will al
ways sell, whether it is sorted or not.
There is no money in sorting as it is
generally practiced, it is only from ne
cessity. Bundle prices have so far
averaged the best. Tobacco will shrink
from 5 to 10 per cent in sorting, accord
to circumstances. The present bright
outlook for the future is liable to remain
for some time to come, as the succeed
ing crop is generally figured in the
market.
The newest wrinkle in tobacco grow
ing is seen in the Connecticut valley
where the crop this year has been of
bumper" proportions. In many of the
fields score of plants have been left un-
cut to perfect their seed and have been
covered with what appears generally to
passengers on the New Haven railroad
as sun bonnets. These seed flowers, in
accordance with experiments made in
this region by Prof A. Z. Shamel, scien-
tifc assistant of the Bureau of Plant In
dustry of the United States Department
of Agriculture, have, in many instances,
been shrouded with manila paper bags,
Of the kind that ordinarily contain II
pounds of sugar at the grocers, and tied
tightly at the bottom with piece of
white cotton string. So that long after
the leaf plants, whose heads were cut off
early in the season, have all been har-
vested, those lofty sentinels of their
tribe, destined to reproduce their kind
for next years crop, have stood waving
in the September breeze, wearing these
caps. The principle, of course is simple
enough. The paper bag does not mater
tally hinder the flower from reaching ma
turity, while it does prevent the wander
ing bee from depositing pollen from an
other plant in another field on the
reproductive portion of the scarlet and
white bloom In other words, the fow-
er is obliged to fertilize itself, as the
botanists phrase is: cross fertilization is
cut out entirely. Only the best plants