Litchfield enquirer., 1873-12-04

fine quality of leaf, from one-third to one half the years yield: while the average
 estimate of one-half will probably cover l the amount held ,by the producers in all the. other towns up and down the valley. 1 Perhaps 1000. cases, containing from
 325 to 375 pounds each, would be toler-
 ably correct estimate of the amount of 1872 tobacco in the possession of the far iners of New England, this, in addition
 to the considerably larger quantity, in- l clndlng the tobacco on hand of previous years crops, in the hands of local specu- i iators, who abound in every considerable tobacco-raising town. Now. on top of this redundant crop of 1872 IS piled the
 abundant one of this year, which, although at this stage its qualities cannot be posi- lively predicted, yet promises exceeding ly well, indicating Q good proportion of
 wrappers, which will serve to restore the equilibrium somewhat disturbed by the
 deficiency of last year.
 so THE SITUATION AT PRESENT IS about this: Considerable lots of in- ferior 1870 tobacco, unstable at almost any price; pretty much the whole pro-
 duct of 1872, equally divided between the specuiators and farmers; and the whole
 of 1873. now about ready for market, hanging in the farmers barn. The de- mand for shipment light, the years ex- port having hardly reached half that of last year. Two years since, 1t is said, the
 shipments to Germany, the chief Euro pean consumer of American tobacco, were
 greatly stimulated by the supposed i'm minence of an increased tax. The great Bremen and Hamburg tobacconists fairlv &havn colx kl<,s aad when inc government finally decided not ksa lay the a-e~ded tax, the oyer-stock- ed Germans returned a portion of their orders. Although the foreign demand
 for Connecticut seed-leaf is comparative ly limited, the inferior qualities of great
 deal of that recently produced has
 brought the tobacco of Wisconsin, Hi
 nois and New York, which has usually
 served to supply Europeans with their cigar materials, into active competition with it. A great deal of stress is laid on
 the fact of the existing monetary difficult
 ties. The big city jobbers, who all seem to have become immensely wealthy in
 handling tobacco, according to the pop
 ular belief, are just at present using their
 capital to advantage in the demoralized
 stock market; the manufacturers, who
 are usually large buyers at this season,
 conscious of the existing glut, and also
 somewhat cramped for money, merely
 live in hand-to-mouth fashion, purchas-
 ing just enough for present consumption.
 And so. all around. the prospect looks
 pretty gloomy for the farmer with his
 barns and sheds bursting with tobacco
 and rapidly occumlating bills staring him
 in the face.
 A PILGRIMAGE UP AND DOWN THE VALLEY,
 among both growers and packers has re-
 vealed 8 feeling of almost universal de-
 pression. The farmer may be found in
 the barn breeding over his hoard of un-
 salable weeds, as he performs those little
 offices of care and attention that tobacco continually requires; while the specula- GUT, taking melancholy pleasure in the
 pungent aroma of his costly wares, han
 dies over the cases and recounts them
 from day to day, as he calculates the
 probable loss on his unlucky investment.
 The latter class are as much alarmed at
 the situation as the farmers The fact
 that the farmers have so much tobacco on
 hand jeopards the ready sale of their share
 of 1872 crop. Out of pure self-protection
 they will be obliged to buy this years
 stock to shut out their customers from
 supplying themselves from the farmers direct, at the low prices many of them would be driven to sell, in order to real
 ize little ready cash. But the local buy
 CTS are hardly equal to carrying such & load, those of more limited means finding
 most of their available capital locked up in the stock already on hand The pres ent status of the market is especially try ing to that numerous class of formers who depend solely upon tobacco for an in-
 come. Compelled to buy the commonest
 necessaries of life, they are in debt to
 their grocers and butchers and hired help.
 for improvements and manure and ma chinery, and, indeed, many find them
 selves as badly off, although nominally much wealthier, as ip the ante-tobacco-
 raising days Some, who may have had chances to sell their tobacco at tolerably fair rates, have still held on, knowing that the sum obtained would not meet their liabilities, and that their creditors, natur- ally inclined to deal leniently, their to- bacco being unsold, would, the moment
 it passed from their hands, swarm down
 upon them like the locusts of Egypt
 Hoping against hope, this class are unea- silly waiting for something to turn up to
 restore to it's wonted value their depre-
 ciated tobacco, and relieve them of their
 debts.
 AS TO THE PROSPECTS
 of anything particularly consoling turning up, they are not very bright. There is very little inclination to buy at present,
 even at extremely low rates, although it
 is prophesied that, with the return of an
 easier money market, the buyers will
 once more put in an appearance from the cities, and, if the farmers are reasonable, will buy their crops. Tobacco is one of the most unquotable things imaginable.
 50 variable are it's qualities of excellence, but the November circular of firm of New York brokers gives some idea of the rates of to-day in. the New York market: Crop of 1870, 6c to Sc, through; 1871, wrappers, 22c to 45c, selections soc to 65c,
 seconds 12c to 22c. filters 1Oc to 15c; 1872, wrappers 18c to 55c, seconds 1Oc to 20c, 1 filters 5c to Sc, Going among the manu- I lecturers, those of Westfeld are tolefably
 busy; though most of them have tempo rarily cut down either in hours of work
 or amount of help. As rule, however,
 during periods of stagnatIon in other lines of business. cigar-making is good; for with nothing to do, smokers flee more than ever to the solace of tobacco. One
 cause of the tobacco raisers' woes being
 the fact that the market Is glutted with
 inferior grades, perhaps the present hard
 times may be considered as 8 providen- tial corrective of this difficulty. Only a few days since the New York papers noted the. fact of the appearance and ready sale
 of cheap cigars in localities os that city,
 where. heretofore. nothing but the more
 aristocratic brands were sold, while it is | n nf hat &h1 panic in England in 1846, and in New York during the monetary crisis of 1S57-8,
 there was quite striking falling of in
 the consumption of the costlier kinds of tabacco and corresponding increase in
 that of the inferior.
 A TOBACCO GROWERS ASSOCIATION.
 While the farmers and packers are thus standing on the q,si Vice, waiting for what
 the days may bring forth, it has come to he nFntfv ollv oaany>fnd sfhat lovvor