Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-01
A TOBACCO EXHIBIT
One Being Prepared for the Paris
Exposition.
VARIED And EXTENSIVE SHOWING
Good Work Performed by the
Division of Soils.
PROFESSOR WHITNEY'S AIMS

| The leaf tobacco exhibit for the Paris
| exposition of 1900 is now being pre-
pared for shipment IN the division OF
| soils of the Department of Agriculture
at Washington. This will be, without
doubt. the finest collection ever exhibited
| by the United States. 1t includes the va
rieties. grades, types and qualities of to-
| baccos from all of the principal tobacco
growing sections of this country. The dis
play will comprise only the raw material
| supplemented by a large collection of pho
| tographs. and in a few instances samples
| illustrating the different stages of the to-
! baCco in the process of manufacturing.
| The leaf tobacco exhibit is under the i'm
mediate direction of Prof. Milton Whitney,
chief of the division of soils. assisted by
! Mr.. Marcus L. Floyd. tobacco expert of
that division. All Of the important tobacco
| growing districts were visited by Mr. Floyd
| during July and August when material was
| collected for this exhibit Neither time nor
| labor has been spared to make this display
credit to the United States at large. and
| to those who have aided in the work in par
| ticClar
Collection of Samples.
To the most casual observer the collcc-
ton of samples now being packed for ship
ment would prove interesting The variety
| of shading, from the bright yellow and
| African black, Immediately attracts the eye.
Add TO this the uniformity of the arrange
| ment of the samples the difference in tex
| ture of the thin and heavy leaves. the va
| rious qualities and the large number of
| grades and the display is readily consid-
| cred an excellent one.
| The lover of the plug the cigarette, the
| pipe and the expensive Havana viii find his
| special weed in the raw material. The
| stoges, snuffs and pipe-smoking tohaccoS
| are also represented in the collection. To
| the smoker of the good and poor tobacco.
| and to those interested in the tobacco trade.
| this exhibit will prove of great interest and
| a source Of useful study.
The Foreign Types.
| The differences in the foreign types are
worthy of consideration. These are not
foreign in the sense that they are grown
in other lands but in the sense that they
are cured and manipulated according to the
demands Of the foreign trade. To the gem
| eral public a difference is al times hardly
| perceptible. but to the trade the slightest
| shade of color or thickness of body of the
| leaf and often the length, is taken into ac-
| count England takes all kinds of our to-
| baccos. while Austria prefers the medium
| colors, with a long. broad. silky leaf with
| small hbers. The dark brown types find
| the highest favor among the Italians, and
! the French like still darker leaf long and
smooth. about the same in quality as the
Italian but made darker by stemming and
| hard pressure. Spain prefers a fine leafy
| lug, such as is grown I'm Kentucky and Ten
| neSsee, while Portugal requires a medium
| sized, red leaf. Belgium, Denmark and
Norway use all grades of the bright tobac-
| cos, and Holland and Sweden prefer the
| dark. heavy types. The low grades find ia
Vor among the Germans japanese and
| Chinese. while the African, true to his col
| ors, is satisfied with and demands a black
| oily type.
All of the tobacco sections has displayed
| much concern in this exhibit and have
| shown much pride in the arrangement of
| the samples contributed. Virginia the old
| banner tobacco state, is worthily repre-
| scented, North Carolina product viii be
| displayed, over 100 samples represent the
| Tennessee districts and Kentucky will be
given q fine showing as we'll as the Mary
| land districts. All the displays are of what
is known as the manufactured and exnort
types, such as are used for cigarettes snuff
| pug, chewing and pipe-smoking and export
tGpaccos. The finer grades, the cigar types,
will be represented by Texas product the
Connecticut types, by florida, New York
state grades and Pennsylvania Wisconsin
and Ohio varieties.
The Industry to He Shown
The tobacco exhibit will be accompanied
by many photographs illustrating the to-
bacco industry from seed bed to finish The
| finest types, so far as price is concerned.
will be furnished in the form of the Cuban
and Sumatra varieties, which are equal in
quality TO the imported goods The exhibit
will also be supplemented by tobacco in the
various stages of curing, manipulation and
fermentation and by literature relating to
tobacco in all its branches
The collection will include about eo0
samples and 1t Will be ready for shiDment
early in November. The exhibit is to rem
resent the various tobaccos of the United
States rather than the display of any par
ucular firm With a few exceptions the
samples are in duplicates the duplicates Ia
be reserved for the judges of awards. Both
the Secretary of Agriculture and Mr. Chas
hlcharGS Dodge, the representative and di-
rector OF the agricultural exhibit, have eX-
pressed themselves as being thoroughly
pleased with the work of the division of
soils in the exhibit prepared for Paris.
Prof. Whitney's Work
In an interview with Prof. Whitney he
spoke of the work which had been done In
the division since the appropriation by
Congress of ten thousand dollars for to-
bacco Investigations. 1t is proposed by
Prof Whitney to map the tobacco soils of
me United States, to secure a change in
the methods of supplying tobacco to the
reggie Countries to investigate the soils
and conditions of growth in Cuba S,1matr;t
and other competing countries. to originate
improved varieties for the PRINCIPAL to-
bacco districts of the United States, and to
investigate and study curing, naturalization
ana fermentation of tobacco in all IFS
branches He also spoke of the recent soil
mapping in the Connecticut valley district
An interesting feature was observed here
In the fact that there We're found soil con-
dltions existing in the valley which are the
same as those in Florida. whore the finest
quality of Cuban and Sumatra types are
produced; but these types cannot be grown
with the same success in Connecticut The
division is making study of this problem
to discover just what causes the difference
in the product.
To Study Soils of Perique Tobacco.
1t is the purpose of the division TO send
field party to Louisiana early in 1890 to
make study of the soils of thu perique
tobacco district in that state. Prepa rations
will soon be made to equip q room in the
division where experiments in the fcrnen-
taion and curing of the various grades of
tobacco may be carried on. BY these in
Vestigatfons Prof Whitney hopes 10 make
improvements in the tobacco products and
in the trade as they exist TO-DAY Special
attention will be given to the Cuban and
Sumatra types, as it is DESTROYS To proGuce
in this country a quality equal To the i'm
ported article, so that the United States
will not have to depend on foreign goods
Several bulletins on tobacco investigations
have been published by he division, the
riost recent being THE Cultivation Of
Cigar-leaf in Florida by MarcuS /