The evening times., 1898-11-23

is raised in the intervening States. the
very best locality lying just below the
latitude OF Southern Ohio.
Little can be said at the present time
in regard to the suitable climatic condi
ton for tobacco of any particular type
of quality.
Under given climatic conditions the
class and type of tobacco depend upon
the character of the soil, especially on
the physical character of the soil upon
which il is grown. while the grade is de-
pendent largely upon the cultivation and
curing of the crop. Different types of to-
baCco are grown on widely differing soils
all the way from the coarse sandy lands
of the pine barrens to the heavy clay
limestone grass and wheat lands. Soils
producing a heavy shipping tobacco will
not produce fine tobacco of any variety
Tobacco has been grown for many years
in Florida, especially in the western part
of the State. The tobacco grown there is
mainly the Cuban type of cigar wrapper
and filler! with some Sumatra lately in
troduced. The recent scarcity of Havana
tobacco has given great impetus to the
cultivation of the corp in Florida, and
very extensive arrangements have been
made to introduce it to a large extent in
the central part of the peninsula.
THE soils of the older Gadsden County
are very different from any others which
occur in Florida. They are the charac-
teristic "red-land" soil of the Lafayette
formation, similar to those found at
Wedgefield and Aiken, S. c., which eX-
tend south through Georgia and form
some of the western counties of Florida,
with Quincy as a center The soil is a
light loan resting on very strong red
clay. The clay is exposed in all cuts and
-I,G -.
ally found from to is inches below the
surface. The country is quite rolling. we'll
wooded with hardwood trees. and in the
early spring 1t has the fresh green ap-
pearance of the country in the valley of
Virginia and in the tobacco area of Penn
sylvania.
Both the Cuban and Sumatra types of
tobacco are grown here, and both are
used for wrappers as well as filters. I'm
like the imported Sumatra tobacco, the
tobacco grown In Florida from Sumatra
seed loses much of its bitter taste, while
the sucker crop and inferior leaves are
cured up with more body and are much
better adapted TO filler purposes
THE season is so long that two crops
of tobacco can be produced in the same
year, or two or three sucker crops can
be grown after the main cutting has been
taken. The sucker crop is stronger. heav-
Ter, and darker, and is used only as a
filler
''The top soil is light loan resting on
q red-clay subsoil, and the character of
the land as tobacco soil depends largely
upon the character of the red-clay sub
soil and it's depth below the surface
These lands maintain on an average only
about S or 10 per cent of moisture, against
20 to % per cent maintained by the Penn
sylvania and the Ohio lands.
"Outside of this area in western Florida
most important developments have re-
Gently been made around Ocala, Barlow
and Fort Meade. At Fort Meade. partic-
ularly, there is well-organized COM
pany of Cubans, with a large area in to-
bacco. The first crop was made in 1896
The tobacco was cured and fermented
according to the Cuban processes, and
without waiting to mellow with age, as
is necessary to bring out the finest quail
ties of a tobacco, the crop was sold at
Tampa for very satisfactory price.
''It is evident from the work that has
been done in the division of soils that
the peculiar adaptation of certain soils
! to certain types of tobacco is largely de-
pendent upon the relation of the soils to
water. and the amount of water they
maintain. The great difference in the
water content of soils adapted to the diff.
ferent types of tobacco has been pointed
out"