The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1910-10-07
Successful Crop on Virgin Soil.


its estimate of the acreage to be de-
voted to shade-grown tobacco, the to-
bacco editor was shown strip of land
covered mostly with stumps and small
trees. ''That grub land," said Mr.
Floyd, lis the land we intend to plant
to tobacco this year in addition to the
acreage devoted to shade last year.
The land is now shaded and growing a
very fine crop of Cuban tobacco. 1t is
the custom to plant other crops than
tobacco on virgin soil here IN the north
before setting it to tobacco, but do
not think it necessary. In the south,
where | came from, we believe the vir-
CIR soil is the best for tobacco. We
plant to tobacco a few years and then
give the soil short rest with some
other crop, and then go back to tobac-
co.
1t was granted by everyone that this
method of planting tobacco on newly
broken land here had been success.
AS Mr.. Floyd explained: ''The crop
may not be quite SO heavy this year as
on the old land, nor the leaves as thick,
but they are large and the Cuban
aroma will be in the leaf. "
The plants, topped, stand as high as
the top of the tent, feet, and some
leaves are 20 to "a inches long. This
field of new tobacco under one tent
covers 60 acres. About 5000 pounds
of dynamite were used in blasting out
the stumps, besides the labor involved
in getting out the smaller trees.
After the ground was cleared and
broken the usual Floyd formula of fer
tilizer for new ground was used, which
consists of $50 pounds of available pot
ash, 285 of phosphoric acid and 271 of
nitrogen per acre. Note this is avail
able plant food. Next year about the
same amount of fertilizer will be ap-
piled, and it is expected the yield will
be much heavier.
To house the 267 acres of shade
grown tobacco there are 81 large sheds
which will accommodate 5 acres of
primed tobacco each. These sheds will
be filled twice before the end of the
season. All of the tobacco is primed,
and there are now engaged in harvest
between $50 and 400 people. Nearly
all of the hired help comes from the
surrounding cities and carry-alls are
run between the farm and station.
The sheds are we'll constructed and
have system of ventilation which is
rarely seen here in the valley. The
ventilators extend along the sides hor
izontally instead Of perpendicularly as
on most sheds. The boards of the sides
extend horizontally along the side. The
boards which are on hinges and swing
outward are just above the tiers of to-
bacco. This allows the air to pass over
the tops of the leaves as they hang on
the laths, and not directly against the
tiers of drying leaves.
The leaves after being picked, hauled
to the shed, sown together and placed
on the lath are hung so the laths are 4
inches apart.
A great convenience ana tlme-saver
is the movable tables at which the
women work while sowing the picked
leaves together and putting them on
the laths. The top of the table con-
sists of two wide boards covered with
burlap. These tops slip into their
places on a couple of braces which are
not in the way when the top is remov-
ed. The team and wagon can pass
through the shed and baskets can be
unloaded on either side. Enough table
tops are supplied so two sheds in ad-
vance of the one in which the tobacco
is being hung can be fitted preparatory
to work.
With the system employed on the
farm it is common occurrence now to
prime and put into the sheds 25 to 30
acres in one day. The crop on the
farm is in all stages of development,
from the first priming of sand leaves to
taking down the crop for sweating.
Several sheds were in the process OF
firing and the growers were much In
terested in the manner in which this
Fastening of the curing process is car
ried on in the large sheds. In the sheds
which hold acres of tobacco 16 char
coal fires are built on the ground under
the lowest tier of tobacco, except IN
the center the lowest tier corresponds
to the second tier from the ground in
other parts of the shed. There three
large fires are built and spark arresters
employed. The ventilation boards are
closed tight as soon as the tobacco is
all in and the shed put in good order,
the laths of tobacco being placed just 4
inches apart. After the fires have
burned two or three days, according to
the weather, the ventilators are opened
wide and the fires raked out. The to-
bacco on the lower tiers appears brown
or deadened on the tips and the heat
has dried the leaves so there is plenty
of room now for ventilation. Firing
tobacco in this manner hastens the cur
ing process so with favorable dry
weather the leaves may often be taken
down for sweating in Is days after
firing.
The open fire method of firing tobac-
co has always been used at the Con-
necticut tobacco corporation farm, but
Mr.. Floyd is now trying system of
stoves in which coal is burned. If they
prove success he will fire all of the
sheds by stoves in the future. The
open fire method necessitates the at
tention of one man to two sheds. With
the stoves it is expected one man can
care for four sheds and there be less
| danger of the sheds taking fire. An
other advantage of the three stoves
and pipes is they are expected to ac-
complish the work of firing in about
two hours, against two or three days
| by the open fire method.
From prophesied failure to mark