Cigarettes SPENDING HITS OBSTACLE

The proposal to raise taxes on cigarettes by 50 cents for the Pack ran into the familiar quicksand Tuesday, after the master plan of the Senate bogged down in disputes about how to spend money.

Subcommittee of the Senate approved a House-passed bill, but voted for the plan, Senate Finance Committee has been postponed at least until the morning after some senators announced that they will vote against the legislation in its current form.

"As I look around this committee, I think the vast majority supports doing something to improve," Sen. Nikki Setzler, Lexington County Democrat, told his colleagues.

"But this bill could either die within the next five minutes, with the right to vote, he could die from Minority Report, or get out of here with a tie vote or one vote margin in the Senate, where she will never see this year."

Proponents of an increase later said they hope a compromise can be developed overnight.

"Our problem is not the way they spend money," said Jim Bowie, executive director of the South Carolina Tobacco Cooperative Group, which insists on the increase. "Our question we need to begin preventive measures as soon as possible."

Current tax at 7 cents for the Pack is the lowest in the country. 50-percent increase will generate about $ 144 million, most of which will be used in accordance with the plan of the house at a premium credit for health insurance for low-income workers and small businesses. Individuals would get a maximum credit of $ 3000 towards the state mandated policies, and business and workers can receive credits for health insurance arranged by the employer.

Subcommittee of the Senate voted Tuesday to spend $ 5 million from the top of the income for the Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston and $ 750,000 for federal medical centers in the country.

But what attracts and critical questions Tuesday, particularly from Senate Democrats had a plan to spend most of the proceeds of credit insurance.

Senator John Land, a leader of Senate Democrats, predicted the plan would fail, that the federal government does not approve the funds, and that the program does not make sense from the point of view. He argued that spending money on medical insurance will mean that some of this amount will go to insurance premiums and insurance administrative overhead, as well as for millions of up to two government agencies to manage the program.

Land said many more people could be absorbed through the placement of all revenues in the main state agency Medicaid to pay for additional services to Medicaid.

"I think it's crazy that I've ever seen our business," Land said of the money to pay off loans, medical insurance. "This is not so. It will not work. This is a huge waste of public money."

Senator Ralph Anderson, Greenville and Sen. Phil Leventis of Sumter, both Democrats, agreed, arguing that the State does not need to create new programs when they could invest tax revenue to the agency, which already handles healthcare for the poor.

Sen. John Courson, Columbia Republican, said that he would only support income "neutral" plan, such as the use of money for tax breaks, he said, would prevent the Governor's veto, Mark Sanford.

The Committee will meet Thursday morning to work out a compromise.

Tobacco Price

Six retailers and tobacco firms have agreed to pay combined fines of more than 130 million pounds after admitting "unlawful practices" relating to retail tobacco prices, the Office of Fair Trading said.

Retailers Asda, Somerfield, First Quench, One Stop Stores (formerly T and S Stores) and TM Retail plus manufacturer Gallaher agreed to pay 132.3 million pounds (165 million euros, 263 million dollars).

The fines come after the competition watchdog accused 12 firms of price-fixing, by either coordinating to link the price of some brands to rival products or exchanging proposed future retail prices between competitors.

An investigation into the six other firms named by the OFT three months ago -- the Co-operative Group, Imperial Tobacco, Morrison’s, Safeway, Shell and Tesco -- is continuing.

OFT chief executive John Fingleton said in a statement Friday evening that companies should set their prices independently, to ensure the markets work well for consumers and the economy.

"The OFT is very pleased that the early co-operation of these parties has enabled the swift resolution of some of this case, which will significantly reduce the costs of pursuing the investigation for the OFT and the businesses concerned," he added.

The OFT investigation covered the period 2000-3. The companies which came to "early resolution agreements" led to a reduction in their fines, the watchdog said.

Even so, the Financial Times said Saturday the sum was still the biggest collective penalty the OFT had handed down.

The tobacco growing

The tobacco belongs to the botanical species Nicotiana tabacum, belongs to the family from the Solanaceae, to be its strength of 24 chromosome pairs of chromosomes. It is believed that this species is a anfidiploide, that is a natural hybrid, originated from two other species of the same genre: Nicotiana tometosiformis and N. sylvestris.

The hybrid between two species would be sterile and would have been necessary to reproduce the doubling of their chromosomes. This could occur spontaneously in nature.

The plant of tobacco came to America from Europe, like potatoes or corn. After being condemned by the Inquisition, it became fashionable in the sixteenth century, first as an ornamental plant and then for medicinal and recreational use of its dried leaves.

The tobacco is a plant dicotiledónea and vivacious, which cut the regrowth. As a rule grown as an annual plant, although the climates of origin could take several years and may reach the stem up to two meters high.

- Leaves: are lanceolate, alternate, seated or petiolated.
- Flowers: hermaphrodites, often scheduled.
- Corolla: tube in the form of more or less swollen, completed by a blade with 5 lobes.
- Roots: the root system is pervasive, although most of the fine roots are on the horizon more fertile.
-Fruit: capsule coated by a persistent calyx, which opens at its apex by two valves BiFic.
-Seeds: they are numerous, small and teguments with reliefs of winding more or less pronounced.

The production process begins in the nursery snuff under two systems: 95% of plants with root ball and the remaining 5% with the traditional system to root desnuda. In both cases the planting begins the second week of September and ends in the third week of November. At six weeks, the plant reaches 15 cm and 5 mm in height, thickness to be ready to be transplanted.

In autumn it is advisable to give a thorough work with that aerates and softens the soil in which to transplant the tobacco in the following spring, the following aims: to provide the fertilizer, avoid the accumulation of moisture in the topsoil during the winter and weed and insect larvae.

In spring, recommends making a work of shallow harrow, followed by 2 or 3 passes with Crusaders surface, using fertilizers to mix with the surface of the earth.

In general the work of cultivation has three objectives: controlling weeds make up beds (for reducing water logged, leaching and reduce damage to roots) and finally to achieve a mullimiento that favors the penetration of water and air. In many cases it is necessary to form a ridge height and width, which will take place on the transplant, also favoring the mechanical harvesting.

The transplant is done with machines transplanted from two or more rows. The rapier of transplantation are covered with a soft material. The operator is placing a tray from the respective plants in the forceps in inverted position, with roots abroad, and the air toward the center of the disc. By rotating the disk, they are placed correctly and leaning slightly back into a groove that will open the machine to the front wheels to ensure that compressors are right.

These compressors are inclined wheels on both sides of the groove behind the wheel transplants done two roles, first compress the soil on the path that receives the plant, straightening and affirming the roots in the ground, helping also to the rise of capillary water And secondly cast loose soil in the vicinity of the plant, which facilitates the entry of air. An exit a drop of water poured into the place and time where the plant is placed.

The separation between the bands of fertilizer should be approximately 12 cm on each side of the line of plants and their depth to a few centimeters below the roots of the plants at transplanting.

The tobacco as plant growth and development of large short growth cycle is demanding both in water and in nutrients.

The plant tobacco comes in a vegetative state to contain 90% of its weight in water.
A deficiency in the supply of water needed for planting causes a drop in performance and fuel economy and a little coarse, and therefore of little value to the industry.
Too much water also disrupts the normal growth of plants, whose leaves have an over development of their nerviaciones and its thin fabric does not stand up well fermentation.
It has been shown that an abundant water intake reduces the protein nitrogen in the leaves and produces an increase in the potassium content decreases and the calcium and magnesium.

In general, it applied 4 to 6 risks after the root of irrigation. Since the risk of root to the next, should be left to spend about 15 to 20 days.
The sprinkler irrigation by improving water use, and some form sheets of tissue thinner and less proportion of veins that irrigated by furrows.