The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1913-08-29
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


One of our tobacco dealers who has
covered pretty thoroughly the growing
districts of the state, informs us that
with couple weeks more of suitable
weather he thinks Wisconsin will pro-
duce about full acreage crop this sea-
son. He finds some belated fields in
all sections but he does not think late
tobacco in the Vernon county district
so late as a year ago. The coming
week will be the heavy week of the
harvest, but the tobacco now going in
to the sheds is sound and generally in
good condition. From present appear
ances the crop may not be fancy one
but a serviceable binder, without much
question, unless unforeseen shed trouble
occurs later.
The harvest of the new tobacco crop
is now we'll under way in all sections
and it seems pertinent that we again
call attention to the necessity for the
growers to keep the suckers we'll
pruned while the. crop is ripening.
The substance which goes into the
growth of suckers should be turned in
to the development of the leaves if the
standard size and yield are to- be at
tanned Many tobacco men hold to the
theory that if suckers are permitted to
grow and blossom, as is often done,
the leaf is robbed of elements needed
to carry it through the curing process,
and that damage SO frequently met
after tobacco has passed through the
fermenting process can be traced to
this cause. At least every grower well
knows that to secure prime crop the
suckers shonld not be permitted to
reach a blossom.
-
If for no other reason, packers who
have started sampling their 1912 to-
bacco and take note of the damage en-
countered, might we'll shy at the pros
pect of again engaging in field buying.
The gamble is too great for men of
moderate means to embark in, and to
many it must mean keep out or go
broke. If field buying should not be
started this season, one thing at least
might happen growers would not har-
vest much unripe tobacco and better
care wonld be taken in stripping and
preparing it for market. And the
packer would certainly get rid of two
fruitful sources of damage to be found
in the 1912 tobacco Let US hope the
field buying epidemic does not break
out for at least month yet, even if
the new law does notprove an effectual
barrier as a preventative.
1t is unlikely that buying in the fields
will be indulged in so radically in Wis
consin this year as previously. The
last legislature of that state passed
some very stringent laws that were
aimed at the practice of 'welshing.
AS the principal tobacco interests in
that state are the farmers who grow
the weed, it goes without saying that
these laws favor the hardy sons of the
soil much more than the merchant who
comes from a distance to buy the farm
ers' crop. 1t is we'll enough that the
packer who contracts to take a crop
should be held to his word, but the
farmer who contracts to deliver his
crop in sound. merchantable condition
should likswise be held to his word.
And from all accounts the Wisconsin
solons made very stringent provisions
for the farmer enforcing his rights but
were tolerably lax in providing for his
being held to his obligations. N. Y
Leaf.
Captain j. M. Estes of Dunkirk takes
issue on the root rot question with
some authorities who claim that this
cause of unsatisfactory plant growth
in the tobacco fields this season is due
mostly to non-rotation of crops. That
the university professors are not wholly
satisfied with their own explanation of
root rot is shown by the fact that they
are continuing their investigation of
the subject. Captain Estes says that
he has always been an advocate of the