The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1912-12-27

NOTE BOOK SKETCHES
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proceeded far enough to gain pretty
fair Indication of the condition in which
the tobacco is coming to the packing
houses this season. A sounder crop
has not been delivered to the packers
in some years past, but it is not weigh
ing out as heavy as most growers ex-
pected, partly because the tobacco was
taken down in rather light case and
contains no excess moisture that so
often is the bane of some crops. Then
the leaf is thin in texture and while
the bundles are bulky, the scales do
not show as large yield per acre as
growers expected. A yield of 1900
pounds is probably exceptional and the
most of the early portion of the crop
viii hardly exceed 1900 pounds to the
acre. The tobacco runs uncommonly
bright in colors and is coming to the
warehouses in such exceptionally fine
condition that very little trouble need
be expected in delivery if the crops are
properly stripped and filters and trash
eliminated. So far the packers have
very little fault to find with their pur-
chases as they are received. All indl-
cations point to the 1912 tobacco as the
best binder crop the state has produced
in some years.
="
The importers of foreign tobaccos
are organizing to present plan for
lower duty on imported leaf at a hear
ing announced by the Ways and Means
committee of congress on January II.
There has always been wide variance
of ideas regarding the tariff among the
different branches of the tobacco trade.
The present duties which the domestic
dealers and growers are satisfied to
have remain are what the importers
don't want. The New England and
the Florida Georgia cOntingents will
fight to the uttermost any effort to
lower the $1.85 rate on wrappers. On
the other hand, the importers Of Suma-
ira tobacco feel that the tax is unnec-
essarily high, and that it is heavy
drain upon their resources to buy costly
tobacco and then pay tax of 81. .85 per
pound on all the tobacco they bring in.
*.*
The secretary Of agriculture has pre-
pared bulletin embodying the results
of an exhaustive investigation into the
develoment and present status Of the
tobacco industry of the country, with
special reference to the export and
manufacturing tobaccos as distinguish
ed from the cigar types. Its informa-
tion is of particular interest in our own
country, as we'll as other weed zones.
The bulletin brings out the more I'M
portant differences between all classes
of tobaccos as regards the types OF,
soils on which they are grown, types of
seed used, methods Of culture and han
ding, standards of quality and their
different uses in the trade. The early
history of the tobacco industry is
traced through colonial times, it's
growth from the revolution to the civil
war is described and it's subsequent de-
velopment as influenced by the war and
the new fiscal system, including inter-
nalrevenue taxes and import duties is
discussed in some detail. During the
colonial period the growing of tobacco
was confined chiefly to Virginia and
Maryland, but after the close of the
revolutionary war the pioneering move
ment beyond the Alleghanies led to it's
introduction into what are now the
states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio
and Missouri. The production of dis
tinctive cigar tyyes which began in the
first quarter of the nineteenth century
in the Connecticut valley and spread
into portions of New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio and Florida and later into
Wisconsin, expanded rapidly during the
decade 1850 to 1860. The vast growth
in tobacco culture led to the production
of varying types of leaf because of diff
ferences in types of soil used, the de-
velopment of different methods of cur
ing and handling, and the Introduction
of new types of seed, and, thus, the
industry has gone through long per-
ion of evolution and differentiation, re-
sulting finally in the production of a
number of distinct types and sub-types
each having its special adaptations and
uses in the trade. The bulletin sup
plies for the first time clear perspec-
tive of the tobacco industry thus spec
ialized, showing, as it does. the dis
tinctive features Of growing and ham
ding each type, the counties and states
producing them, the quantities of each
produced and the principal uses to
which each is put-the hurley, the fire.
cured of Virginia, Kentucky and Ten
nessee, the dark, air-cured of Ken
tucky and adjoining states, the fiue-
cured, Maryland and eastern Ohio ex-
port types, Virginia sun-cured and Per-
ique. The facts brought out cannot
fail to be of interest and value to the
members of the trade, while they i'm
press the layman with the extraordin-
ary complexity of tobacco production
from the standpoint of agriculture.
50
I. K. Reindahl, prominent farmer
of the town of Burke, is enthusiastic
over his success in the raising of Gala
bashes the past summer and suggests
that it may be new industry of i'm
portance. The calabash is a gourd, re-
sembling the crookneck squash in ap-
pearance and whose vine is very much
like that of the pumpkin. 1t is chiefly
valuable for the making Of pipes. 1t
is native of Africa, but Mr.. Kendall
has demonstrated that it can be grown