The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1916-06-16
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

/ A succession Of rainy days ~ four
delay the planting of the tobacco crop
considerably. The four inches of rain
that fell so saturated the soil that but
/ little work could be done towards pre-
pairing the fields for transplanting. In
the meantime the plants were gaining
| in size until many growers found them
getting too large to use in the machines
and have been compelled to thin out
| the beds and throw away plants that
ought to have been planted a week or
| ten days ago. Where the plants were
| thick the continuous wet weather start
ed them rotting and thinning was the
only way to save the plants. 1t seemed
almost shame to have to throw away
strong, thrifty plants, and such condl-
| tions are hardly ever met with as pre-
vailed the greater part of the week.
| However, there is such an abundance
of plants everywhere this season there
| need be no curtailment of acreage from
| this source With the return of clear
| ing weather growers have been able to
get into the fields again and consider
able headway in transplanting the crop
has been accomplished. With decent
weather the heavy work of getting the
| plants transferred to the fields will be
| accomplished the coming week. There
| is hardly any need of further moisture
until this job is completed.
| *
| The advantage of sterilizing tobacco
beds is strongly in evidence again this
season. Plants on the steamed beds
are not only much more advanced but
have a stocky and healthier growth,
not to mention the absence of weeds.
The saving in expense of wedding alone
will very nearly cover the cost of the
steaming. That the favorable season
| which has brought the non-sterilized
beds along in time for transplanting this
year can hardly be used as an argu-
ment against steaming, for growers
have in mind other years when it has
been difficult to bring plants around OF
suitable size at that date and trans
| planting delayed in consequence.
***
Mr.. Allen N. Hoxie, field man for
the American Agricultural Chemical
Co., of Boston, Mass, has been in the
state the past week to superintend the
| application of a special tobacco fertil-
izer on experimental farms, which the
| United Cigar Manufacturers Co. OF
New York have arranged to test the
coming season. The United Co., who
| are among the largest consumers OF
| Wisconsin leaf, have confidence that
satisfactory results may be obtained in
improving the quality of our leaf
through the employment Of their fer
| tilizer and are spending their money in
carrying forward these experiments.
Some idea of the difference in the
prices paid for the 1916 and 1915 crops
of Sumatra may be gained from the
official statement covering the first five
sales that has just come to hand. In
the first five Amsterdam sales this
year, 1O4, SCI bales of Sumatra were
disposed of at 210 Dutch cents per half
kilogram. In the same sales last year
70, SOP bales had been sold at 142 Dutch
cents per half-kilogram. A half-kilo-
gram is one and one-tenth pounds.
That the higher price is not confined to
Sumatra is shown by the fact that the
i2,147 bales of Borneo tobacco, sold In
the first five sales, brought 158 Dutch
cents against 78 for last years crop.
In the case of Borneo the increase is
| over 100 per cent. In the case of Su-
matra the increase is about 333 per
cent. No Borneo tobacco of any con-
! sequence comes to this country, and the
extremely high price is due to the tre-
mendous demand for tobacco in Eu-
rope For once, it appears that the to-
baccos suitable for America are rela-
lively cheaper than those that are used
principally by Europe. In spite OF the
difficulties in the way OF making ship
ments, American importers are getting
their tobacco into. this country with
considerable rapidity. Up to last Fri
day there had been imported this year
IL, 900 DaloS against :, ifo III eHC 0oAiC
period of last year, an increase OF
1891 bales for this year. Information
has been received from Amsterdam to
the effect that 80, 900 bales of the 1916
crop have been sold out of hand. Most
of this was tobacco that had been
scheduled for the sales that are yet to
take place. Very little of this, how
ever, was tobacco that would have
come to America, even if it had been
put up at inscription. The veteran i'm
| porters cannot remember year when
so large a proportion Of Sumatra
crop was sold at private sale rather
than by inscription. Most OF the pur-
chants. America has thus far bought
| little ovefA2O. 900 bales of Sumatra this
year, of which manufacturers bought
about 5000 bales and the importing
leaf dealers $4,000. So great IS the