The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1908-03-13
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES
Past, Present and Future for Wisconsin
Tobacco.


Z, by the American Indian. His methods
of culture were primitive, with utter dis
/ regard for crop rotation. The pioneer
curing shed was the Indian tepee. Cured
under these conditions, it's flavor must
have consisted of an indefinite compound
of nicotine, smoked venison, dried pelts,
and all the fumes incident to aboriginal
housekeeping. 1t may not have pos
sessed that particular havor-that fine
bouquet which if so pleasing, to the epi
curian taste, but no one, I think, will
doubt that it must have had distinct,
i've, pervading, all powerful, scharacteris-
tic aroma
| History charges the American Indian
| with the frequent and wanton violation
OF his treaty obligations. His treaties
were not signed, sealed and delivered ac-
cording to the methods which we're prac-
ticed by civilized nations, but by rite,
| which to him was far more solemn and
binding. It le Pipe of Peace was the
signal by ~ Lich he made his most sacred
promise.
The pioneer tobacco planters of Wis
consin brought with them from the east
ern states not only seed which was
adapted to our soil and climate, but they
| brought with them that which was of
far greater Importance thrift, push
| and enterprise which never fails to win.
| While our progress has been slow, yet
/ we have established the fact that the
| cultivation of tobacco is an important
| industry in Wisconsin, an industry
| worthy of cur careful study and investi-
cations, and for this purpose we are to
day in convention assembled
| If YOU ask me wherein, in my opinion,
lies the greatest opportunity for improve
ment in Wisconsin tobacco, answer sin
| the plant bed" If you ask me what, in
my opinion, has been the principal cause
| Of our failures in the past, [ answer "the
| plant bed.'' Our great failure is made
right at the beginning. We do not raise
plants enough and we do rot raise them
early. We should increase our plant
bed capacity at least 100 per cent, and
we should set forward our date OF trans,
| planting at least two weeks. Tobacco
set from the 1st to the 10th of June is
ready to harvest about the 10th of Aug
ust, and will be cured and ready to strip
the last of October. If it is set from the
10th to the 20th of June, it will be ready
to harvest the 1st of September and may
be stripped in November. 1t set from
the 10th of June to the lst OF July, it
| will grow on borrowed time, with just
/ about even chances. If set the lst OF
July, it will be ready to piow down the
1st of October, and sometimes even
earlier.
There is seed time and harvest for
tobacco as surely as there is for any
thing else, and unless we give heed to
the seed time we may not expect har
vest. In common practice the plants
are pulled and transplanted as soon as
they are large enough to set, and then
there is wait of about week for the
plants which were left in the bed to
grow, when the same process IS repeated
and this continued through about q
month, until the crop is all set. Now, il
given area of plant bed will furnish
plants enough to set a certain number
| of acres in one month, then twice that
area of plant bed will furnish plants
enough to set the same number OF acres
in half that time, or two weeks, there
fore If a certain area of plant bed will
furnish plants enough to set certain
field by the last of June, double that
: area of plant bed will furnish enough
plants to set by the 18th of June. This
is very simple problem, but who shall
| dispute the answer?
| Early set tobacco practically escapes
our insect pests. The grasshopper. it's
greatest pest. does not grow his wings
| sufficiently to carry him on his maraud-
! ing expedition until the last of August,
and the tobacco worm never gets right
down to business until about that time.
Heat and moisture, while they are not
the only agents required to cure tobacco
perfectly, yet they are of prime ~neces-
sity. When the temperature is below ~
degrees and the nights are cold and the
weather is dry, tobacco absolutely re-
fuses to cure. These are not the condl-
tions necessary to induce fermentation.
AS evidence of this / cite you to the crop
of 1907, much of which, am sorry to
say, has not cured out yet. The warm
days which are sure to come the last OF
August and first of September, with per
haps occasional showers, will speed the
curing process at rate which Is phe-
nomanal Cured under these conditions,
tobacco has good color, good texture,
good flavor, and to the everlasting salts
faction of both grower and dealer, 1t
commands good prices. While these
conditions are true OF the early set crop,
the very opposite must prevail with that
which is planted late. Insects mar and
devour it: the winds chaff and tear it;
portion of it escapes these calamities it
is still the easy and natural victim OF
shed rot, black rot, fat stem, and all
those bad qualities, which, when they
are all bundled together, our buyers
rather factitiously but very aptly, term
the "tail-end" And we know from ex-
perience, both of growers and dealers,
that if the percentage of inferior tobacco
| is large it virtually determines Or fixes
the price of the crop.
Next in Importance to an abundant
) supply of plants is the question of type
and variety. Ii we turn to our seed cat
alogues We will be told ia famboyant
!. language. accompanied by lurid pictures
which would do credit. TO a circus poster,
that they have in stock for sale the gen
uine Havana, the Connecticut Seed
Leaf, the Pure Orinoco, the Blue Pryor
the White Burley, and dozen other
varieties, each one of which is adapted