The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1912-03-15
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

::...:.
The advanced prices demanded for
nearly all classes of domestic cigar leaf
tobaccos is apparently bound to stimu-
late increased acreage in most of the
growing states the coming season. The
production is hardly keeping pace with
the increased consumption even in dull
years, and if business should expand
the shortage would be even more acute.
The first two months of the year have
not brought about the looked for re-
sumption of activity in the trade and it
may not come during the election year,
but the fact is none the less apparent
that the binder producing states are
considerably behind in their annual
production while the market has short
er stocks of old leaf to draw from than
for many years past. A New York
trade paper thus comments on the sit
uation: Except possibly in the state
of Ohio, it is about as certain as any
future event can be that very large
acreage will be devoted to tobacco in
all the cigar leaf sections. The high
prices that the Wisconsin crop brought
will undoubtedly induce the tobacco
growing farmers of that state to plant
every available foot of ground in to-
bacco. The Pennsylvania farmers have
had good luck in disposing of their |
crops for so long that tobacco is looked
upon there as q. kind of gold mine. |
Shade-groWing Corporations OF Connec- |
ticut have alreadN Nfannounced their in
tention of increasing the area devoted |
to shade tobacco, and the small farm |
ers, whose old-fashioned Havana Seed
brought them such splendid returns |
last year, will undoubtedly follow suit |
with every prospect of repeating the |
performance. Florida, whose 1911 to- |
bacco acreage turned out one of the |
most desirable crops that ever came |
out of that state, will undoubtedly raise |
more tobacco next year, though it is to
be hoped that more circumspection will
be used than characterized the actions
of the Florida growers following the
boom times Of few years ago."
**
The u. S. Tobacco Journal calls at
tention to the revenue statistics that
show a marked falling off of Sumatra
importations. For the calendar year
1911 the consumption of Sumatra was
only about %, 900 bales In other words |
our cigar industry consumed last year
about nine thousand bales of Sumatra
less than the year before and ten thou
sand bales less than in 1909. The con-
sumption of Sumatra in this country
has therefore decreased One-third with
in the past two years To what causes
is to be described this tremendous de-
crease? Although the imports of the
new crop last year were generally re-
ported and held to be far below the av-
erage on account of the high prices at
which desirable American brands were
bid in at the inscriptions by the repre-
sentatives of other countries, the total
of the Sumatra importations during
1911 shows an increase by 372, 984
pounds and not decrease. Conse-
uuently, the diminished consumption
could not be exclusively ascribed to an
insufficiency of Sumatra supply, al
though the lack of suitable marks for
the American market and their high
prices may properly account for rea-
sonable diminution in the consumption.
But the chief cause is likely to be found
III CIlC OAUSLolVC use VI Jul OOLICoCAN
shade-grown leaf in which many of our
cigar manufacturing concerns became
almost feverishly interested during the
year. Evidently the battle of the
shade-grown against the Sumatra is on
in earnest But will it stay so? About
half of our filler imports come from
Cuba, while the increase of Turkish to-
bacco corresponds in it's size to the
phenomenal increase of our cigarette
production. For we imported last year
nearly twenty million pounds of tobac-
co from the Turkish tobacco producing
districts of both Europe and Asia
against but half that amount imported
the year before. Not many years ago
our entire leaf imports from the Turk
| ish Empire didn't amount to more than
| three million pounds. But if the in
crease of it's consumption here coutin-
ues as testified by the import figures of
last year, they are likely to beat in an
| other year our Havana leaf imports in
the same proportion as the cigarette
output is beating already our cigar pro-
| duction.
***
There has been more or less interest
shown for some time in the question of
| tobacco growing in England. In a re
| cent issue of the London Times re-
port was published Of the result of an
| experiment in the growing of tobacco