Litchfield enquirer., 1873-12-04

Fr.m the springf Id Republican s ToBAcc0-
 AT HOME AND ABRoAD.
 Tobacco culture b the ConnectI-
 cut Valley.
 A REVOLUTION IN THE BUsISHss PROBABLE. No article of mere luxury Is of such 1 worldwide consumption as tobacco. The barbarous savage and the most cultured representative of the worlds civilization equally agree in finding its nicotian charm altogether fascinating and grateful to the 1 senses The use of the weed, as far as l Europeans are concerned, is comparative l ly modern. The Chinese, with their cus- 1 tomary egotistic presumption, claim to have discovered it's merits long before Columbus went on his famous yachting expedition across the Atlantic; but to the Caucasian portion of the race the be- atifc plant came along with theirevelation of 8 new world and it's wonders. It was among the gentle natives of Cuba that the Jack tars of Columbus first encoun- tered the plant which in the shape of '.plug" and ''fine cut" has beguiled the
 
 ants since. From this early date the fra grant Habana established it's reputation with the Europeans, reputation which it competition with the growth of tobacco in all other countries under the sun. But with the growth of the universal appetite for tobacco, the original source was found altogether insufficient to meet the de- mand, and this led to the domestication of the plant in other countries, till now it's culture is of widely extended impor- tance. Europeans are the most inveterate users of the weed in all it's different forms but the continent does not begin to raise enough for its own consumption. Hol- land produces an inferior kind which is mainly converted into snuff, and portions of Germany, Austria, and Russia grow a poor quality that answers for the cheap cigars and pipe tobacco of the poorer class Here and there around the bord- CTS of the Mediterranean the plant finds more congenial home, and crossing to the Asiatic shores some very delicate and choice varieties are raised in Syria. Chi ma raises immense quantities for home use; and Consul Inspector Newman writes home from Japan that the Japanese have lately caught the tobacco epidemic and are beginning to cultivate the seductive plant quite extensively. .s5=
 9= ToBAcco-eRow1Na IN AMERICA.
 Completing our circuit by coming back to the North American continent, we find here more widely extended culture and 2 greater adaptability of soil and climate than have been developed anywhere else. Old Virginia has been noted for her de- votion to the growth of tobacco ever since the colonial days, and has paid the pen alty of sterility to thousands of acres be- cause of the ungrateful 'skinning" pro- cess to which the land has been subject ed by her planters. Kentucky, at pres ent, produces by far the largest amount of tobacco of any state in the Union, and her crop in 1870, a poor year. was 105,- 305, ,869 pounds. Tennessee, North Caro- lima and Missouri depend largely upon this crop, and, indeed, it is grown to states north of the cotton belt, and even we'll into the horders of Canada. Wis consin is Q notable instance of the rapidi- ty with which the crop is extending itself in portions of the North. In 1860 the production of the state was but S7, $40 pounds, and this amount was increased by more than ten fold in 1870, when 960.- SIS pounds were raised. In Illinois, wes- tern New York and Pennsylvania, tobac- co IS receiving more and more attention from year to year, and California, which has hitherto been large importer of eastern tobacco, has just discovered with in a year or two that her soil and climate are finely adapted to the growth of the Havana variety, and, this year, the state devotes some 1000 acres to its culture. Notwithstanding the rapidly extending area on which tobacco is grown in this country, the total crop of 1870 was only 262, 735, ,O21 pounds, against 434, POS, ,461 pounds in 1860, fuctuation to be ex- plained by the susceptibleness of the plant to injury from an unpropitious sea- son. In 1871 the crop must have been largely in excess of the year previous from the fact that, 1872, 264, ,836, 1882 pound of leaf tobacco were shipped to Europe, or an amount nearly equal to the entire crop of 1870, Our exports, it will be seen, are immense, ranging In value from 20 to 30 millions annually for the last ten years. Germany is our best cus- toner. England comes next. and France and Italy in succession. On the other hand, the importations of tobacco are mostly confined to Havana filters, which are combined with our Connecticut wrap pers for the choicer kinds of cigars. Some idea of the importance of the man. ufacture of tobacco in the country may be gained from. the knowledge that cigar making gives employment to about &. 900 people, while +, 900 more make iveli- hood in the various other manufactures goods made by the cigar shops and tobac- fo 0ko ko1 fr orIw 900. Of this total Massachusetts, share was but $1, ,597, ,501, and Connecticut's l, ,133, ,665. New York and Philadelphia are the great cigar.making centers, the former running 1,072 shops and the latter .975.lr =. .., -..F..,s-...'-..,.-...... -... ,. THE sEED-LEAF OF THE CONNECTICUT VAIL : io .f,gesa ass4 LEY. .ga sssssA h44
 But what we are specially interested in here in the Connecticut valley, is the cul- ture of our own peculiar seed-leaf. The soil and climate seem pre-eminently fla yorable for the production of this variety and it has gained a reputation far and wide for its excellencies for cigar wrap pers. Indeed, no other district in the country has hitherto been able to compete with our finer grades of wrappers. Their characteristics are a. thin, smooth, deli cate leaf. ofagreeable though mild flavor, and with good burning qualities. The discovery of the tobacco producing quail ities of central New England seems almost proyidential, coming as it dld just at the period when the. great West began to pour into the lap of the East its wealth of corn and grain, and at such ruinously low prices as to render profitless the raising of similar crops by the New England far nner. Connecticut preceded Massachu- sets in the culture of tobacco, and as early as 1840 the state raised 47l ,657 Massachusetts, yielded 3,2s3, ,1es pounds