The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1905-07-14
Connecticut Valley Tobacco Market.

The fields of tobacco are now looking
fine, and most of the crop bids fair to be
early and as good growth as usual. I
have been in some fields where the
plants would span from tip to tip of leaf,
from twenty-seven to above thirty inches.
But in many fields are here and there
to be seen few large plants and then
few small plants. This condition of un-
even growth to a great extent was
brought about by the dry, cold weather
at the time of setting, the plants having
been whipped by those dry winds that
were of almost daily occurrence since
the tobacco was transplanted. Where
there were plants enough killed to make
the stocking over practice unsuitable,
and the land was narrowed over and re-
set with the setting machine, the fields
show better stand. Although small,
these fields have an even look, the plants
starting off together, and / think they
will make better showing at harvest
time; not perhaps that the tobacco will
be heavier in yield of good cigar leaf, or
heavier yield in pounds.
On the whole, the crop is making
very good showing. The tobacco hes
been hoed the first time and many fields
the second time, while hear of some
who calculate to have the third hoe;ng
done this week in this locality. The
work of hoeing the tobacco crop is not
attended with so much labor as in the
years when blowing was done only in the
spring; not so many weeds and grass as
we used to have when we allowed the
weeds that were on the land at cutting
time to mature to reproduce a larger
crop of weeds the following year, and
for that one consideration the killing of
those weeds and not allowing them to go
to seed will pay all the cost of plowing
and narrowing in the fall, through the
ease of caring for the next crop. The
older farmers who used to rely on elbow
grease and the hoe, are more apt to raise
weeds than are the more young and pro-
gressive farmers, who think there will be
horses left when they are gone, and hitch
up the team and mount the sulky plcw.
The news from the tobacco world is
very slow; not much doing in the trad
ing line but all are waiting for their to-
bacco to come through the sweat In
some places like Lancaster and Philadel-
phis the packers who packed their to-
bacco in cases are at work repacking and
taking out their black rot, which is re-
ported as existing in large quantities.
But where the tobacco was bulk SWeated
there is very little black rot. Moral:
Those packers who have 10 sweat rooms
should 60 to work and build them. |
notice an allusion to some black rot hav-
ing been found in the tobacco, from the
grower using too much water in bringing
his tobacco into casing condition. For
shame, you packers, to go and pack to-
bacco that is too wet to go safely through
the sweat! Why not say that the as
sorting room was too warm and the
goods got too husky and dry and the
men who did the haking or the packing
used the spraying machine little too
much for the welfare of the goods being
handled Or do the packers take the
cases into their warehouses and sell it as
their own packing without inspecting, in
order to get the price difference between
their own packing and farmers packing?
[ have worked at the business and know
whereof I speak. Cultivator.