The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1908-01-24

NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

4
/ 1t cannot be looked upon as anything
but unfortunate for the tobacco trade
| that fire loss of such magnitude as
| that which occurred at GAINESVILLE on the
morning Of the 18th inst. should come at
this time. 1t is the second largest to-
bacco loss this state, which has been ex-
ceptionally free from such misfortunes.
| has ever sustained. Such calamities
have tendency to frighten the insur-
ance companies which are very liable to
either withdraw from the tobacco field
| or increase their rates, for the insured
must eventually pay such losses. In
either event those engaged in the tobac-
| CO trade will be seriously nconvenienced.
| 1t doesn't seem to make much difference
| If tobacco insurance has proven profit
| able source of revenue to the companies
| in years past, one heavy loss is enough
/ to ocreate alarm, however uniustifed.
***
| Now that the time is approaching
when the tobacco growers will take down
and strip their tobacco, few sugges-
tions relative to the handling of the crop
| are made by John T. Boland. To begin
with, it is generally understood by all
| the buyers that almost every crop con-
| taIns certain amount of either fatty
stems, green or chilled tobacco, and the
| first question asked the grower will be if
his crop contains any of the above men
toned evils. And there is no doubt but
| that every buyer will examine the bun
dies carefully to ascertain for himself
the extent Of the damage before pur--
chasing, if there exists in his mind the
shadow of doubt regarding the sound
ness of the crop. Therefore it behooves
the grower to exercise extreme care in
bundling the goods, and to thoroughly
clean out all tobacco that would have
tendency towards damaging in the bum
die. When taking down do not let the
goods come into too high case, as a
large amount of the damage in last years
packing was caused by taking the to-
bacco down too wet. Then in stripping
it would be we'll to have an extra bundle
box prepared and ready to receive all
the wet stem tobacco, which should not
be packed as heavy as the sound, and
the bundle tied back farther from the
ends in order that the air may circulate
through the butts and dry them out.
These bundles should be marked so
they may be shown easily without loss
of time. The vet or high case tobacco
should be pa .ked light, bundled sep
arately and have a mark of its own. The
green and chilled tobacco is generally
hung in a certain part of the shed SO
that it can easily be bundled by itself
without much trouble, and the bundles
marked so it may be known. Count your
bundles so that you may know how
many of each grade you have, and pile
each grade by itself so that it will be
easy to get at. Put your bundles up in
good compact form, not too heavy, use
good paper, and see that the bundles are
| not so large but that the paper will
reach around it. 1t prevents it from
| drying out, looks more businesslike, and
| induces the buyer to believe that you
have done your work thoroughly. Pile
your bundles in clean, dry place, a few
| inches from the ground and where the
rain or snow will not beat in on it. Re-
| garding the filler end of the crop, care
should be taken to pick them all out
| and tie them in small hands and exclude
| all trash, and do not shingle the bun
dies, but make them short with only two
| layers instead of three. Great damage
| was caused in last years filters by put
| ting a row across the center OF the bun
| die, or account of the prevalence of
green wet butts and trashy leaves in the
| filler hands, and without fail they would
rot in the center of the bundle when left
! long enough to become warm. Not only
will all of the above precautions hurry
| the sale of your tobacco and enable you
| to obtain better price, but it will be a
safeguard against any danger arising
! from unsound tobacco, providing you
are obliged to hold it for any length of
| time in the bundle.
*s*
| From the official statistics the u. S.
Tobacco Journal has figured out that
our domestic cigar leaf crop of 1907 is
| about eight million pounds short of the
| previous year, with Wisconsin contrib1t
| ing largely to the deficiency. Then TAX
| ing up the question of how the consump-
| ton corresponds with the supply, goes
on to say: Ninteen hundred and six was
| record breaker in the output of our
cigar industry. According to the inter-
| nal revenue figures our cigar industry IN
| 1906 consumed LAC, ,278691 pounds of leaf
| of which 39,372,697 pounds were Of for
eign growth, that is imported, leaving
| l00905 1894 pounds as the consumption
| of domestic leaf In our issue of Jan
uary 9Th of last year we calculated on a
surplus of some thirty odd million
| pounds in our then available cigar leaf
crop This surplus has evidently not
| moved off and becomes therefore avail
able again for the cigar production of
| 1908 For the output of our cigar indus
| try in 1907 is not likely to have exceeded
chat of 1906 because'of the slump in the
| November and December productions in
consequence of the October panic, and
the consumption of our leaf supply could
have therefore hardly overtopped that of
1906 Even if our cigar industry holds
its own during the current year, the
supply of domestic leaf would appear to
be ample for it's needs in spite of the
shortage of eight millions in last years
| crop. These figures which have been
carefully compiled and considered are