The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-08-12
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES.

MIL q BUM ShElOHEO.
Is tobacco going to be contracted
for in the field this fall? Rumors are
! already circulating that options have
been taken in some communities, and
even the price has been established.
The trouble with this rumor at the
present time is, that when you go in
to the community where this move
ment is supposed to have begun, you
find that it is not there, but they
have heard that it was in some other
section.
There is no reason in the world
why there should not be field buying
this fall; many, and as good reasons
as there were for this method of buy
ing last year and the year before, ap-
ply to 1921. There has been no new
supply of fancy and desirable binders
entering the market except the limited
amount. grown last year. The big
manufacturers have not quit business,
though they have felt the depression,
and the public is not yet reduced to a
condition when it can not afford its
cigar. How extensive the field buying
movement will be, no one can say to-
day, nor>what date it will start; neith-
er is it worth ones while to speculate
about the range of prices that will be
ruling, but that contracting for tobac-
CO in the field can be STAYED off, is
not in the minds of those to believe,
who expect to play the game. this fall.
Sections in the Wisconsin tobacco
area offer fields of most tempting
lot of leaf; but the acreage of the
fancy fields is yet limited. In two
weeks different story may have to
be told.
The history of tobacco on the
American continent is said to go back
to prehistoric times; emblems carved
on rock in ancient stone temples in
Central America bear evidence of the
custom among the inhabitants in the
days antedating the Christian era by
long cycles of ages; pulverized leaf
low stick, father to the modern Gig
arctic and the pipe, is the oldest form.
The tradition has it that John Rolfe
tlfe@ husband of Pocahontas was the
first white man to grow tobacco, and
in 1916 brought the leaf into England.
Since that, time England has been fed
on the American weed of cheer and
SOlace
George Washington was an exten-
sive grower and exporter, and can be
pointed to with pride by those who
are engaged in the oldest industry de-
veloped in the United States.
Of the two million acres, more or
less grown in the U. S. this year, Wis
consin produces about $4,000 acres Of
cigar leaf. Besides New York, the big
markets for cigar leaf are in Hart
ford, Conn, Lancaster, PA, Dayton,
Ohio, and EdgertOn, Wis.
***
Venezuela is one Of the countries
which is making rapid strides in the
production of tobacco. Not only does
the country grow enough for it's home
consumption, but it exports consider
able amounts of leaf. The type called
by the Venezuelans, Guacharo, is by
them considered the finest tobacco
grown anywhere.
One of the worst features of a high
tariff is the tendency to drive the little
fellow and the small shop out of busi
ness. The larger the capital required
to carry on a business, the fewer can
stay in the game. Already 5,S46 cigar
manufacturers have been forced out
of business since 1914; the Fordney
bill now before the Senate will, if
passed, tax thousands of others out of
existence, is the tenor of an editorial
on this matter in The Leaf
The yield and quality of tobacco
upon any kind of soil is largely in
1uenced by the amount of moisture
available. The water received by the
soil in the form of rain is stored in
the soil. A rainfall of one inch is
equivalent to 110 tons of water to the
acre. To control the amount of rain
fall is beyond the power of the grow
er, but to preserve the moisture stored
in the ground is dependent in large
measure upon how the soil has been
prepared, and how it is worked. Ere
quent and shallow cultivation is the
one essential precaution against the
loss of moisture, and the utilization
for plant life and growth of this