The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1915-04-16
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

s:..::...:..:-:.......s:.: s+::..a:..ss
The 1914 tobacco crop is now so closely
lifted from growers hands that figures
regarding its disposition can be COM
piled with some degree of accuracy.
The two most prominent facts regard
ing it are that no crop in recent years
has yielded so small per cent of real
good binder stock and the large oper-
ators have secured nowhere near their
usual supply of Wisconsin leaf. The
other is the surprising capacity of the
stemmers and exporters in taking over
the great bulk of the crop. One con-
cern alone is credited with the pur-
chase Of over 20 million pounds, equal
to one third of the normal yield in the
state. Two others are said to have
taken somewhere from seven to ten
million poudds each. Add to this the
many smaller dealers in low grades,
and it is currently reported that one
Ohio concern has shipped more than
million pounds out Of the state in the
bundle, it is not difficult to figure out
through what sources the crop has been
absorbed. Without question it was the
low prices that prompted the consun-
ers of low grade leaf to crowd store
houses with supply two or three
years in advance of their needs in man
ufacturing for it is long years since the
great bulk of Wisconsin crop sold so
cheaply. With the export market for
low grades closed on account of the
European war, the query is, what would
have become of the present crop had
the stemmers not made the market?
While the growers as a general thing
have not made any money out of the
crop, the advantage to them has been
that they have been able to sell an un-
desirable product in the bundle and are
free to lay their plans for another
year, hoping for better success next
time.
The conservation of the humus sup
ply of the tobacco lands of the Connec-
ticut valley is subject of vast and
growing Importance to those farmers
whose lands have been cropped con-
tinuously to tobacco for years. In many
places where this supply of decayed
vegetable matter has been neglected
there are unmistakable evidences of
decreasing yields of tobacco. During
the past six or eight years, however,
noticeable decrease in yields has been
apparent, and for the year of 1914 the
most optimistic of authorities will bare
ly give an average Of 100 pounds per
acre, while many reputable growers
produced only 1900 pounds for broad
leaf and 1900 for Havana, with many
as low as 1900 Various ressons are
given by growers as to this decrease in
productiveness. The opinion most COM
monty expressed as causing the failure
in weight is unfavorable weather con-
ditions, but we see on certain newer
lands heavy crops grown in the same
season. Among the best informed
growers, however, the opinions seem
to have crystallized and narrowed down
to one or two uses-first lack of hu-
mus supply, and second a gradual
''sickening" of the land through the
use of chemical fertilizers and from
poisonous substances given off by the
tobacco roots that are injurious to
imenters seem to have established the
fact that the maximum yields cannot
be obtained unless the humus supply IS
adequately maintained. 1t has been
shown that manured lands resist
drOuths better than unmanured lands,
and in the opinion of many good grow
ers manure on all tobacco lands tends
to larger yield. 1t would seem, how
ever, that the best form of humus sup
ply and the one with least objection
able features is fall sown timothy for
plOWing under in the spring. This cover
crop has been rapidly coming into favor
during the last two years, and many
growers attest to it's value in loosening
up the soil and subsoil and providing
ideal conditions for the growth of soil
bacteria and tendency to sweeten out
the land by using up the residues harm
full to the growth of tobacco. Fall
soWn grass, moreover, keeps soil from
washing and blowing, the yearly loss
from which is tremendous; tons of the
best part of the land being removed
annually In these two forms by erosion.
The second cause ascribed to the de-
crease IN yields, namely the sickening
OF lands cropped continuously to tobac-
CO, is more or less theoretical. It is
entirely reasonable to suppose that the
large residues left from chemical fer
tilizers, after the plant food is taken
out, would in time be detrimental to
the growth of the tobacco plant. It is
we'll known that these residual aIkalies
produce compact soil structure. Only
In unusual rainy seasons are these resi-
dues carried down and away from the
surface, for in drier seasons the soil
capillarity in connection with the SUMS
rays tends to draw these poisons with
the water to the surface. On soils
where this condition exists, this white
deposit can be seen around small stones
and Jumps of earth after continued
dry spell on land that has not been
stirred. The idea that tobacco roots
excrete certain substances injurious to
themselves, though harmless, or even
beneficial to other plants, is a theory
that seems to be surmis ed bV expert