The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-05-13
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


| The u. 5. Department of AgrlcuI-
| ture has sent out bulletin of warning
to all tobacco growers and warehouse
men, but especially to the growers, to
be on guard against malignant new
disease which has appeared in this
country. On March 20, 1921, this dis
ease was first detected in seed beds in
Gadsden scounty, Florida. OF the beds
where the trouble was located some
had been steam steriized. The disease
generally made it's appearance in one
corner of the seed bed, and then spread
rapidly. 1t seems exceedingly contag-
ious. By April 5, this year, the pest
had spread to rs beds, and week later
| it had run also into the adjoining
| county, attacking beds there. BY the
first of May practically all the Florida
Georgia wrapper tobacco areas had be-
come infected, causing almost panic
among tobacco planters, because they
did not have enough healthy plants to
transplant into their fields. This is the
oldest wrapper field in the U. S. and
| millions of dollars worth of tobacco is
endangered The forbidding scientific
name of the spore, or bacteria, causing
this disease is Personospora hyoscyami.
1t has been known in Europe, though
the damage caused there is not as great
as in New South Wales, Australia,
where it is known as tobacco blue
mold" On wild tobacco it was first
discovered in this country by DR.. w. G.
Farlow in 1885 in southern California,
and named Nicotiana Glauca. In 1906
| it was detected in Texas, and it is
thought that it is identical with the
parasite now working havoc with the
seed beds in the South. 1t is not known
how it came into Florida. 1t is thought
that it may, perhaps, have been intro
duced through the mats brought from
Sumatra and used in the South for
baling tobacco, but this is pure sur
mise; it may as we'll have come from
California or Texas, if it can be proven
that the Nicotiana Glauca is identical
with the Personospora. The spread of
| the disease in Florida and Georgia is
explained by the rapidity of the growth
of the fungus spores, the fact that
they are powdery dry and light, and
| that the weather has been dry down
there during bed seeding time. The.
| wind, insects and even nan can carry
it, Under all circumstances it is up to
the grower also in Wisconsin to take
the most rigid precautions. The .. S.
department advises not only to see to it
that all seed beds are thoroughly steril-
lied, but that different seed beds be
sown and located far apart, and it adds.
'Visitors should be rigidly excluded"
like warning against smallpox or
diphtheria. If the disease is of ma
| ture to cause any immediate alarm to
| tobacco growers in Wisconsin, The Re-
| porter is not in position to state.
| Climatic and soil conditions here may
not be as subject to the disease as are
I
the disease has appeared it has caused
the tobacco growers a lot of anxiety.
But our own tobacco department of the
agricultural experiment station at Mad
ison will be on the lookout If anyone
should have trouble with his seed beds,
it is safe as general principle to con-
suit the department and hear the ad-
vice of its experts. The u. S. bulletin
closes by saying Tobacco planters
throughout the southern states and in
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Connecti-
cut should be on their guard against
the introduction of this disease into
their fields. 1t belongs to group of
very destructive parasites, hard to con-
troll when once introduced !"
The Reporter has time and again
called attention to the desirability of
opening up trade with Germany in or
der to put new life into American to-
bacco export trade, and meet the ur-
gent demand of the Central powers for
good American tobacco. The Leaf of
April % underscores this view by say
ing: Germany promises to be for
midable factor in the market this year,
as we'll as other European buyers. !"
/ And correspondent from Berlin under
date of April says that the tobacco
interests of Germany are demanding
free trade, and that if it was left to
the German people they would quickly
let down the bars for the free admit
tance of American tobacco. Our own
| government, it must be hoped, will re-
ciprocate the efforts of our European
customers 20 remove as many as possi-
BILE of the hindrances for the easy and
rapid exchange of our mutual wants.