The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1915-08-06
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


The question now puzzling the tobac-
co growers is whether good crop can
be produced in rainy season. With
twenty days of rain in July and the
clouds discharging an unusual amount
of moisture so far in August, they be-
gin to wonder if this thing is to con-
tinue. Many of the fields on low lands
are flooded and the soil so thoroughly
saturated that the larger plants are
torn and twisted by every wind. Ger
tainly clearing weather and sunshine
must come soon if anything like an or
binary crop is to be realized.
One of the minor effects of the Euro
pean war that may have escaped the
notice of the public generally, is to in
crease the market value Of tobacco
stems, and it all comes about through
the advance in price of commercial pot
ash that formerly sold at about 43
cents pound that is now quoted at 20
cents. 1t is we'll known that tobacco
stems furnish one of the most avail
able sources of potash for fertilizing
purposes we have. A ton of stems
produces 40 pounds of potash, 25 pounds
of nitrates and 10 pounds of phosphoric
acd j, all having value of about $12 at
the present prices of these commercial
fertilizers. Thus tobacco stems that
have generally been marketed at about
S4 ton to concerns manufacturing to-
baccO extracts are now worth from $40
to $12 per ton. The cost of potash hav
ing made such advances the concerns
manufacturing commercial fertilizers
are now in the market bidding for all
the stems to be had as the cheapest
avenue now open for obtaining the
chemical constituents needed in guar
anteed fertilizers.
The usual market for tobacco stems
comes from the extract concerns and
the public have but slight conception
of this business. There is world mar
ket for tobacco extracts that is contin-
ually expanding. France and Italy buy
immense quantities for use in the grape
vineyards as an insect destroyer, and
chemists are all the time working to
determine what tobaccos yield the larg-
est percentage of nicotine. Expert
ments have been carried on in England
of late to find out if certain varieties
of tobacco might not be grown for the
extract alone. The result has shown
that to cents might be paid for leaf
used in making extract. Wisconsin to-
bacco, however, does not yield nowhere
near as large percentage of nicotine
extract as the southern types, and
hence some years there has been no
market for our stems, though the pres
ent demand will take all offered at
higher figures than ever before paid,
for the reasons above explained.
Conversation in Connecticut tobacco
growing circles has been centering
pretty largely upon the subject of in
surance, since the hail storm OF the
middle of June Scores of SIS and S100
claims have been entered with COM
panies doing BUSINESS with growers, and
quite number of farmers whose fields
were unprotected are shouldering the
@ho1
can look to an insurance company for
recompense are now pointing out to
their less fortunate brethren the fall
lacy of remaining uninsured and in
cidentally, insurance agents are busy
men. IN. Y. Journal.
-
At last our officials at Washington
seem to have awakened to the neces-
sity of doing away with the antiquated
slip-shod manner in which our tobacco
statistics were compiled, to modernize
their haphazard system and to make it
conform more closely to the accuracy
and completeness required by the pro-
gressive tactics of the trade. The De-
partment of Agriculture takes charge
of the tobacco crops, the Department
of Commerce handles the statistics OF
the imports and exports anC the Inter-
nal Revenue Bureau concerns itself
with the statistics of the various to-
bacco products. Besides, the Census
Bureau has recently been in charge
with the collection and publication
semi annually of the stocks of raw leaf
in the hands of manufacturers and TO-
bacco dealers. Will it then be possible
to bring the functions of these several
| tobacco statistics collecting, compiling
and publishing official agencies under
one central head? In collecting the to-
| bacco crop statistics, we wish to i'm
press again on the officials of the De
partment of Agriculture the downright
| incompetency with which, for instance,
| the statistics of the Ohio tobacco crop
are being made up. The state of Ohio
produces, not only hurley tobacco, but
also an enormous crop of cigar leaf;