The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1912-10-18
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


AT last We are favored With some
fine Indian summer weather which
seems likely to prove the salvation o.
the late harvested tobacco. Warm days
coming close after long season o1
damp weather has started the curing
rapidly and it needs only the continua
ton of such conditions to put even the
later shielded portion of the crop out
of danger Of heavy freezes that might
produce fat stems. The early harvest.
ed tobacco is already we'll cured Out
and is showing an unusually bright col
ored leaf with excellent texture anc
finish. It has been long years since
the state has produced sounder OF
finer looking tobacco than the samples
that can now be secured from the sheds
of the earlier crops, some of which
might be stripped almost any time.
Has the 1912 New England tobacco
crop been bought at prices which the
purchasers will have reason to regret,
or, at least, at figure which means
ruinously high binder prices for the
small and medium-sized manufacturer?
The foregoing question is being asked
by conservative tobacco men and deep
rumblings indicate that the indepen-
dent buyers, so-called, are resting on
their oars, even if not taking in sail.
First of all let it be stated that the
1912 New England crop is not a failure
and will yield vast quantity of fine
tobacco; on the other hand, it is only
fair to look an unusual situation sQuarely
in the face, and a casual inspection of
that part of the Sun-groWn crop which
has been taken down will convince even
a novice that there is ground for the
growing belief that buyers may have
paid for the new crop all that it is
worth. The situation is unusual in that
fully 80 per cent of the 1912 sun-grown
crop has been bargained for at date
at which ordinarily the buying move
ment is only beginning to get under
way. Moreover, the crop has been
contracted for at the highest average
price in twenty years. In the great
majority of instances the buyers are
obliged to take the crops at the price
agreed upon provided there is no hail
or polesweat. The fact that the per-
centage of wrappers may run smaller
than expected or that the June-July
drought may be reflected in the quality
of the leaf does not release the buyer.
Growers have had experience with hit
or-miSs contracts and most of the pap
ers passed between buyers and growers
this year are binding agreements. 1t
is too early to judge the entire crop by
evidences which have thus far come to
light. There is no denying, however,
that much of the primed Havana Seed
which is thus far taken down has not
fulfilled the hopes of two months ago.
Only part of the primed sun-grown
crop, of course, has been taken down
and your correspondent does not know
of a single stalk-cured crop which is
ready to take down. The stalk-cured
or cut tobacco may prove happy dis
appointment, and it is also true that
the primed Havana Seed, on the sort
ing tables may yield a percentage of
wrappers which is not looked for by in
siders at the present writing. If it de-
velops, as now seems possible, that the
1912 New England yield is binder
OAOH1 C11C 1C1NC1 VI NOOlOC, L1lCoI1O q
larger supply of binder tobacco than
event the Wisconsin crop is the key to
yields big crop, the small buyer who
has taken over any considerable amount
of the 1912 New England crop is likely
to have difficulty in getting out of the
transaction whole. If, on the contrary,
Wisconsin is a disappointment, holders
of New England tobacco have a good
proposition and the manufacturer faces
staggering binder prices. The forego-
ing is an unvarnished statement of
facts which are only too well known to
inside interests but which have not
been extensively advertised. 1t may
be also stated that if the Wisconsin
crop does not prove fairly satisfactory
1t is difficult to see where the average
manufacturer will obtain his binder
goods at any price. Cor. n. Y. Leaf.
***
According the annual report of the
Baseball Publishing company, the Wis
consin-Illinois league players have
drawn literally upon the premiums Of
fered by the Blackwell Durham Tobac-
co company to those batters who hit
the bull sign or knock home runs. Dur
ing the 1912 season there have been
208 hits recorded against the Bull Dur
ham signs, which hits have netted the
fortunate players the enormous amount
of $40, 400 in cash There have been
approximately $500 home runs made
in those parks for which the heavy
players have received 180, 900 packages
of Bull Durham smoking tobacco.
The Department of Agriculture has
issued its monthly report on the state
of the tobacco crop for October l, 1912,
with comparisons. The figures give
for the tobacco condition of 81.8 per
cent on October of this year, as COM
pared with SO.5 per cent year ago, a
gain of 1.3 per cent. The year aver
age condition is given at 1873 per cent.
The condition on September l of this
year was 81.1 per cent, showing gain
Of Z per cent for the month. In acre
age this year the tobacco crop is 17.9 |
per cent higher than in 1911, the total
acreage this year being 1,194, POO, or
l17.9 per cent of the 1911 acreage. The |
department estimates the total produc- |
ton of tobacco this year to be 974, ,000,- |