The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1914-06-05

Calico disease in tobacco. which is
sometimes called mosaic disease, is a
very difficult disease to combat or elm
mate. Those who have studied the
habits of the disease, such as DR.. Clin
ton and G. H. Chapman, have arrived
at only a few conclusions, which, if OBJ
served, will possibly help tobacco grow
ers. Tobacco is easily infected with
this disease. 1t is transmitted by han
ding a healthy plant after handling a
calicoed plant, especially if any of the
juices from the calicoed plants are on
the hands. This juice. however, is
only effective on the immature or
growing leaves. If a full-grown leaf
is touched by calicoed leaf at the
base of the plant, the full-grown leaf
will not calico, but the young leaves
above will be calicoed although not
even touched at this time. Thus it can
be readily seen if there are many cali
coed plants in the seed bed, the handl-
ing of these while transplanting is
likely to gradually spread the calico to
otherwise healthy plants. This ex-
plains why sometimes in the field one
finds every other plant calicoed for
quite distance in the row, says the
Connecticut state bulletin 180. The
man who set these either got the juice
from a calicoed plant on his hands
or else got bunch of plants which had
come in contact with calicoed plants,
while the man who set the alternate
sound plants did not carry the infec-
tion. Unfortunately calico cannot US
ually be recognized in the plants while
in the seed bed. Occasionally before
the final setting such plants are found.
Whenever they are found they and the
surrounding plants should be pulled out
and the other plants should not be
touched until the hands have been
washed thoroughly with soap and wat
er. So far, the chief methods of les
sening calico in the seed bed are avoid
ing the use of tobacco water, as noted
above, and probably steam steriliza-
ton. Some growers believe that the
careless use of fertilizers on the grow
ing seedlings produces calico, but if so,
this has not yet been proved by expert
mentation. Seed beds should never be
made on land recently planted to to-
bacco nor should tobacco stems ever be
used in the bed. The reason is that a
single calico plant in bed which might
have been caused by stems may infect
many others during the handling nee
essary in pulling and setting. On the
other hand, chance infection from
stems in the field is not so likely to
spread the trouble by contact. When
beds are apt to produce calico plants
and sterilization is impossible, it is we'll
to make new beds.
The internal revenue stamp returns
show again a decrease of 81, 685, $50 in
the output of our large cigar industry
for the month of April. If the reduc-
tion keeps up proportionately during
the year, the end of 1914 will have to
record large deficiency in the coun-
try's cigar production. Would this be
the hoped-for result of the clamorous
outcry for a decrease in the expense Of
living? Or is not such a falling off to
be considered rather as nothing else
but an enforced restriction of business?
And yet our solons in Washington will
continue to swelter far into the dog
days in their endeavor to still further
restrict by ironclad legislation the &C
tivities and progress of our industrial
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