The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-31
TOBACCO AND ITS BEST SOILS
FACTS FROM A RECENT FED
ERAL PAMPHLET.
The Plant Will Grow On Nearly All
Kinds of Soil-Influence of Gil
mate.

Washington, Jan. 30.-Secretary OF
Agriculture Wilson has authorized the
issue in pamphlet form of preliminary
report upon the soils of the principal
tobacco districts in the United States,
prepared by Milton Whitney, chief of
the division of soils. A study of these
soils was begun when the tobacco ex-
hibit was being prepared for the Co
lumbar exposition at Chicago, and
since that time quite a number of typl-
cal tobacco soils have been examined
in the laboratory connected with the
agricultural department. The present
publication, which is copiously illus
trated, is a preliminary report of the
work that has been going on. The main
points in inquiry which now reach the
department are in regard to the kind
of tobacco which should be grown in
certain localities, and the method of
curing the product. Replying to these
questions the report says climate and
soil conditions should determine the
kind of tobacco raised.
The tobacco plant readily adapts
itself to a great range of climatic con-
ditions; will grow on nearly all kinds
of soil, and has a comparatively short
season of growth. 1t can, therefore, as
a matter of fact, be grown in nearly
all parts of the country, even where
wheat and corn cannot be economically
produced. But while tobacco can be so
universally grown, the flavor and quail
ity are greatly influenced by the influ-
ence of the climate and soil A monde
script tobacco is not worth growing,
and should not be grown, as it lowers
the price of really good types of to-
bacco, to the detriment alike of the
grower and the consumer. It is i'm
portant, therefore, to understand what
kinds of tobacco are in demand and
what the climatic and soil conditions
are which will most easily produce the
qualities desired"
A glance at a table giving the
changes in the production Of tobacco
from 1879 to 1889 shows that in this
period of ten years the acreage and
yield of the cigar tobaccos have been
very considerably increased. The man
ufacturing and export districts cannot
be sharply separated. as both kinds of
tobacco are frequently grown in the
same district, and the same kind is
frequently used for both purposes. On
the whole there is q considerable de-
crease in the acreage and yield.
With the bright and yellow and burly
tobaccos there has been a large in
crease in both acreage and yield Since
1889 there has been considerabl BILE change
in many of these districts, while other
ICM OAStll GlSs 1cAdS anu 0dll-
fornia, are coming into considerable
prominence, both as to the area under
cultivation and the excellent quality of
the product raised.
The acreage in Florida has also been
very greatly in -eased since 1889. but
there are no reliable statistics to show
the extent of the changes in the coun-
ties making up the tobacco districts.
Some attention is devoted to the
question of meteorological conditions
as affecting the industry in the great
tobacco regions in this country, Cuba
and Sumatra.
The plant. the report continues, lis
far more sensitive to those meteoro-
logical conditions than are our instru-
ments. Even in such famous tobacco
region as Cuba, tobacco of good quality
cannot be grown in the immediate
vicinity of the ocean or in certain parts
of the island, even on what would
otherwise be considered good tobacco
lands This has been the experience
also in Sumatra and in our own cOun-
try. but the influences are too subtle
to be detected by our meteorological
instruments"
The remainder of the report is de-
voted mainly to a description of the
different classes of tobacco lands found
in the United States together with data
as to the yield per acre, whether used
as wrapper or filler. the value of the
tobacco produced. and valuable sug-
gestions for obtaining the best re-
suits.