The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1912-03-22
Building Up the Standard of WiscOn-
sin Tobacco.

sin Tobacco.
W: B. Shaw before The Dane County Pure
Breed Promotion Club, Burke, Wis, March
13 1872
Gentlemen
| am before you today to talk regard
ing that which is of mutual interest to
you as grower and to me as a packer
and dealer in leaf tobacco. | shall not
be presumptious enough to tell you
how to grow crop of tobacco, nor
shall / undertake to tell you how to
cure it after it has been shielded. |
simply want to call your attention to
that which is absolutely necessary in
raising the standard of Wisconsin bind
ers, that which is necessary to make
Wisconsin tobacco the standard binder
tobacco for all domestic cigars.
Tobacco has occupied an important
position as money crop in the south
ern and eastern states since the early
colonial days. 1t is a crop which is re-
markably sensitive to the conditions
under which it is grown, and to produce
the finest types of cigar leaf requires
strict attention. 1t is a crop that one
must specialize in to obtain the best
results. This limits the output of
strictly first-class tobacco so that 1t
assures price which justifies intensive
system of culture.
We cannot hope to make Wisconsin a
wrapper producing state, this due to
the curly vein which is characteristic
of our tobacco. We can, however,
through selecting a uniform type of
pure Spanish seed, and through the
proper cultivation and preparation of
the soil, raise the best quality binder
produced in any of the cigar leaf pro-
ducing states.
I have told you that the culture of
tobacco is remarkably sensitive TO the
conditions under which it is grown, eli
mate, soil and weather. The reputa-
tion which Wisconsin tobacco enjoys as
cigar binder has proven that it is
possible for us to grow a high grade
binder in this state.
Now, what is the trouble? We in
our desire for leafy tobacco have en-
couraged the use of hybrid seed until
there are few sections in the state
where a dealer can safely select his
purchases without obtaining percent
age of coarse, big vein tobacco which
if continued to be grown will lose for
Wisconsin the place she now enjoys as
L the inder state of the Union.
There is a mistaken idea regarding
this leafy tobacco; we do not wish for
rank growth or extreme sizes, nor do
we want short tobacco. We do want
leafy pure Spanish, because of the
small vein and superior quality of the
type. 1t is safer for you because it
ripens quicker, thereby shortening the
growing season, it is less apt to dam
age in the shed of the grower, and for
the packer it goes through the fer
mentation with much smaller per-
centage of damage.
You say that one cannot get leaf
enough from pure Spanish to satisfy
the buyer This is not true where we
know the requisite plant food for to-
bacco, have a correct analysis of the
soil and apply the missing elements
necessary for the proper growth of the
plant. We know that the first two or
three wears on F'new breaking" pro-
duces leafy tobacco, that the continued
cropping from this land will reduce the
size, darken and thicken the leaf.
There must be some reason for this.
These are some of the problems that
must be solved by the successful inten-
sive grower and they can be solved
| through intelligent study of this par
| ticular crop.
1t is generally believed, by growers,
| that the tobacco plant removes enor-
nous amounts Of fertility from the
soil. This is not true, at least any more
so than of other more common crops.
| We find from the chemical analysis of
| the plant that cabbage removes in a
Weld of Is tons to the acre, 100 pounds
of nitrogen, 35 pounds of phosphoric
acid and 1876 pounds of potash. Corn
removes in yield of go bushels, 81
pounds nitrogen, 81 pounds phosphoric
acid, "a pounds potash. Peas remove
in yield of Is bushels per acre, los
pounds nitrogen, 35 pounds phosphorlc
acid, 81 pounds potash; while tobacco
| in an extreme estimate of 1900 pounds
per acre removes but 70 pounds nitro
gen, pounds phosphoric acid, 81 pounds
| potash.
The relative commercial value of
each will show that tobacco requires sc
| cents less than corn, S5.44 less than
cabbage and $400 less than peas which
! is a legume.
The constant application of barnyard
manure furnishes the soil more phos-
phoric acid than is taken up and we
should crop the tobacco field in rota-
ton with some crop which will take up
this excess and restore that which is
most needed, potash and nitrogen. The
tobacco crop occnpies the ground but a
short time and in using cover crop
we can prevent the teaching and wash
ing away of the fertility, and by turn
ing this crop under while it is green in
the spring you will restore humus and
| help the mechanical condition of the
| soil.
Then there comes the drouth to over
come. Let me tell you of an expert
ence which impressed me with the ad-
vantage and possibilities of dry farm
ing. In the dry year of 1910 while rid
ing through the Kickapoo valley, |
found a crop of beautiful leafy tobacco.
In questioning the grower in regard to
| this crop, which stood out as an excep-
tion in the community, he told me that
he had followed the suggestions IN the
University bulletin regarding the culti-
walton of land through the dry season.
It seems that he kept mulch of
dust over the entire field. This, he
49, l.