The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-02-12
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

public against taking too much stock in
Florida tobacco growing schemes which
has furnished fruitful field fol. pro-
moters the past few years. While the
profits of the Florida companies were
undoubtedly very large in 1905 and 1906,
excessively large in some instances, the
balance sheets of 1907 and 1903 have
different story to tell. A poor crop
and the panic have played havoc with
the profits of the Florida tobacco people.
But the one time large returns seem to
have attracted the professional pro-
moter who does not know anything of
nor does he care anything for the legit-
innate tobacco business but who is out
only to fleece the public by glittering
stock iobbing process. The same thing
happened when the first attempt at
raising shade-grown Sumatra leaf IN
Connecticut was made. For the pres
ent the Florida field is fully occupied
by the legitimate concerns which have
striven for years with incessant labor
and regardless of expense to make it
the success it has become. But to
plunge now into new enterprises pro-.
NOTED by so-called financiers" on a
paper basis can result only in ruinous
disaster.
-
The annual report of the United
States Secretary of Agriculture, which
has just been issued by the Department
of Agriculture, Washington, d. c.,
contains the following regarding the
tobacco Investigations and experiments
that have been conducted under the
supervision of the Department: The
tobacco work, as outlined in previous
reports, has been continued during the
year. The work has been carried on in
the Connecticut Valley, Florida, Texas,
Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio,
New York, Maryland and Virginia, the
object being to secure improved types
by methods of breeding and selection,
and to fix these types and establish
them, to demonstrate the best means
of growing the crops in the various re-
gions, to accomplish the wide distribu-
ton of seeds of improved types, to in
troduce rotation and diversification, to
aid in maintaining the fertility of the
land where tobacco is made speciality,
TO study various diseases, and by work
in the laboratory to solve important
points concerning the questions of burn,
aroma, etc. The work in the Connec-
ticut Valley has placed the industry ON
new basis, it having been conclusively
demonstrated that the varieties orig
mated are eminently adapted for cul-
ture under shade and in the open field.
The culture of tobacco under shade in
the Connecticut Valley has been put on
profitable basis by the growers
through the use of the Hazlewood Gu
ban tobacco, an extremely uniform va
riety adapted for culture under shade
in this valley, and the use of improved
methods of culture, the result of ex-
pperiments and experience. Through
improved. methods of Specialization of
tobacco seed beds some very destruc-
tive diseases have been eliminated. One
of the most important discoveries of
the year resulted in the control of the
destructive root-rot in the tobacco fields
Connecticut Valley 1t has been found
that an application OF acid phosphate
at the rate of 1000 pounds per acre
COIIOCtS CIlC dlhdllLG SUI COlIllClOIlS III
the diseased fields, and it has been
proved in extensive field trials that this
treatment remedies the abnormal soil
conditions brought about by the con-
tinued use in large quantities of certain
fertilizers and makes it possible to
grow normal and profitable crops on
the diseased soils. Important work has
been continued in the matter of securing
41I +xolrl n
ing the winter. The Bureau is bring
ing to completion plan by which it is
hoped to secure statistics of tobacco
production by types. The department
has entered into cooperation with the
Treasury Department, through its Bu-
reau of Internal Revenue, which has
inserted in the reports made by dealers
in leaf tobacco requirement for a
statement of the amount received from
farmers. By these data the bureau
will be enabled to check the annual re-
ports and to secure valuable state
ment by types.
Congress has been asked to pass a
bill that will protect smokers from
fraud, just as the consumers of food
are protected. 1t has been introduced
as an amendment to the pure food law.
1t demands that cigars shall be sold for
what they are in reality, and not for
what they pretend to be. The bill pro-
vides that the materials that enter into
cigar shall be fully designated on the
box or package containing it. In other
words, if a cigar is sold as clear Ha-
vana the reading will have to be made
of tobacco grown on the Island of
Cuba" Of mixed cigar the mixture
will have to be described, whether a
Havana filler and Porto Rico or Flor
ida wrapper,eor Porto Rico filler and
a seed wrapper, or Sumatra wrapper,
Havana filler and Sumatra
wrapper, whether seed filler and Su
matra wrapper Thus both the retailer
and smoker will be enabled to judge for
themselves what kind of cigars they
are buying and whether the cigars are
worth the price paid for them. What
ever our views of smoking may be, /
there can be no denial of the theory
that a smoker has the right to be pro-