The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1916-03-17
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

NOTE BOOK SKETCHES
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That portion of the 1915 crop that is
receiving warehouse handling for bind
er purposes, has already commenced to
bring some surprises to the packers.
Many of the dealers have all the time
been afraid that a crop grown in an
unfavorable season could scarcely go
through the sweat without damage,
but when the tobacco has warmed up
in the bulks they find their fears were
L,founded. The leaf is taking on
color and texture that indicates thatsome
really desirable binder stock will be Sc
cured, and if it passes the summer
sweat as the present indications point
to, there will be offered the market
some relief from a short binder sup
ply. OF course there is considerable
shrinkage in warehouse handling and
a large percentage of throw-outs to re-
turn to the stemmers, but much
better proportion of binder stock re-
mains to case than the packers looked
for. The discovery comes too late in
the season to be of much benefit to
either the packer or grower, for the
crop has already gone mostly to the
stemming or export concerns. Had the
exact situation been known earlier
however, a much larger per cent would
have been handled through the ware
houses and ali the available binder leaf
reclaimed even if the expense of handl-
ing had been materially increased
thereby. So even judgment of the
large operators may sometimes be at
fault.
In an address before the New Eng
land Tobacco Growers association,
DIR. Jenkins urged the rotation of to-
bacco fields as the best method of
avoiding soil poisons: The explanation
of the gradual decrease in the yield of
tobacco that seems to me most plausi-
Gle is that the soil has become unfit for
the continued growth of this particular
crop, not through the depletion of any
particular plant food or organic con-
stituent, but for other reasons, some
times guessed at and not yet well un-
delStood The soil has lost its tobacco
.scondition' as distinguished from its
fertility, which is not diminished. The
United States bureau of soils and 9TH
ers have found in the soil certain COM
pleX compounds eXcreted by the roots
of crops or probably to larger extent
formed from the decay of organic
manures, which compounds are poisons
to- certain plants, at least when grown
in solutions, and may be poisonous to
them when growing in the field. The
work also indicates that given plant,
like wheat, may excrete from its roots
a toxin or poison which will retard or
prevent the growth of wheat but not of
any other kind of plant. The theory,
l think, lacks positive proof, but is
suggestive. Our knowledge of the mi
crobe of life of the soil including both
bacteria and other microscopic organ
isms-is still very incomplete. We
know, at least, that this life is abso-
lutely essential to crops, that there is
constant war in the soil between favor
able organisms and those which hinder
or destroy them, and that the preva
lence of the one or the other is greatly
affected by fertilizers, tillage, and the
kind of crops which are grown. With
Indefinite proof, it may be well sus-
pected that our system of fertiliZing
and the continued growing of single
kind of crop may favor the gradual in
crease of certain forms of microbe life
which finally so interfere with the
growth of that crop as to make it un-
profitable, but which change of crop
and fertilizer will reduce or Danish.
Following the announcement that the
factory of Eisenlohr & Bros, Inc. ;
would close down their factory at the
corner of Christian and Grant streets
for few days, comes the announce
ment that the factory will be closed
permanently and that no more cigars
will be manufactured by the firm in
Lancaster. This means the loss of po-
sitions to over three hundred local ci-
garmakers, who will have to seek work
elsewhere The first trouble had its
inception on Tuesday afternoon, when
the three hundred cigarmakers almost
to man, insisted that the superintend-
ent change the brand of tobacco wrap
pers. He took the matter up with the
headquarters in Philadelphia and on
Thursday at noon all the hands were
sent home, with the announcement that
the factory would be closed for brief
period. This was followed by the des-
patch later informing the superintend-
ent to close up the plant tight and to
pay off all hands. Lancaster (Pa.)