Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-12-24
The Success of the the Con-
necticut Tobacco Growers.
ingenious Farmers of the Nutmeg
State are Ahead.
An Industry Which Has Now Assumed Much
importance.

TOBACCO growing has just been demon
Stratcd III u way that makes glad tn.
| heart al every grower ana mantiIactu,c, q,
| OF tobacco So"ds. conII"cucut toDac,.
mas Always been OF Il high order. an.
hotwithstandins the jokes banded arount
| ABOUT "ConneCtlcut cabbage leaves" IN.
best leaf from this state has re.uarl,
brought - To 5t cents 1t pound while
simntr riodGcts from L, ms! Kania. Wis
consin and ohio barely commanded j.
II ANA ~ cents. The difference was partly
due 10 .'he climate ANA soil Of the ..
Nutmcs state. but far more to the in
II seniouS Yankee farmers who ..v. Ion, d
II the art of tobacco raising ana caring 1.
Il point tiat >lokt well Tor their genius
me growers OF this state were the iirs,
10 import havana seed from cuba anu
! pliice ON titc market what WAS commoniN
known as Connecticut Havana Dealer;
| could cun>C icntious!y sell their cigars as
| clear HaNaiiits thereafter. but if required
| 70 explain more rtrttcuH;Il ~ tttyS woliti
| admit that II was NItmrg State Havana.
! Then when Havana scca was adopted
| ny thc S!"wcrs ~ other parts OF the
| country. the Connecticut Yankees ma,i..
| another advance step. They found that
manufacturers Iacierlc cd tobacco leaf tina 1
was cured aud prepared for the fnai k {
carry IN tn" season. Tor the tobacco then
| retained NOR" OF lis natural aroma whcI
| made III into cigtrs. 'ru satisfy this dv :
| tndnd The Siowcrs i'll this state proceeded
| - adopt i system OF ''furCc sweating
| their goods, which enabled them TO sell
| their tobacc" earlier and also to improve
| its quality. ForGr-Swcatcd Connecticut
! tobacco has been Il common pro,t;Ict an
| the market now. ioi Years and TINS bring
| generally AT IN" beginning of the season
| from ~ To 20 cents a pound. There was
| a good deal Of truubl" and extra cXyeiisr
! 10 treat III" tobacco in this way. and the
| farmers were justified in asking higher
| prices.
but this was by 30 means the final stcn
| IN III" dcvclopmrD. of the industry. Tn"
| best wrappers for cigars were always i'm
l,oil'd from sumatra. tn" Sumatr;, l"";
1 al
PerS ana 1t brought several dollars u
| n"'nd when imported into this country.
| me Shrcwd f"nk." growers then secured
Sumatra tobacco seed and Proceeded I,
| raise SumHtra tohucco This variety sIc-
| ct"ded on the soil Of some farms with re-
| markablc SdcC' -, and sur some time trc
now ConncCtivIt Sumatrd tobacco has
been almost as important a product
| Connecticut Havana. There was one
] thing lacking. however which batflcd the
growers for numbcr OF years. No mat
| ter how carefully and scientifically tn.
imported Sunatra was planted and Guilt
waited il did not have III. delicate brown.
green and yell"wish spots distributed
over the leaf which characterized that
raised on tn" other side of the world Thc
trade easily distinguished between th.'
native and imported leaf hy these spots.
| cedcd TO provide by artificial mean,
what nature denied them. After IL lively
| study ami experiment ii was found posi-
bic to treat the Sumatra t"at with ,nrmi-
fals 50 that thu spotted appearance
could be obtained. This was a great tri-
Imrh for the tobacco growers. and for
some time the now spotted Conn. cticIt
Sumatra wrappers have been features Of
III" trade. Every manufacturer under
stood how these srots were artincialiy
produced and only til. consumer WAS dc
ceivcd 1t was not 4 deception that In
any way injured tho smoker, Tor the Con
necticut Sumatra was nearly as good as
the imported. except in appearance.
In TIM. howeves. cxp"rts VINO wanted
only he genuine article became suffi lent
IS ccquaiutcd with the matter 10 b. able
10 diSiing IiSh between the genuin. i'm
ported Sumatra AMI h" connecticut sc"i
leaf. 'rhr spots of the imported wrappers
were soft brown. green and Olive Shad-
in. 50 inS"nsibly from "n' color to AN
other that 10 artificial efforts could quite
duplicate them. The man who paid good
prices for his Elcgantrs insisted upon the
genuine article. and h" learned to Study
these spots with their s',ft little bulges
Of olive, that STAMPED ~" Wrapper b.
vond au.Sii"n Is s"nuin' sumatrn ~
bacc". NJ art nf the ch' mist could pro
due similar spots With IL" domestic lear.
The art ~ the grower seemed Il, stin"d
TO ~ further Improvements:
department. "f agriculture. began ,Nperi-
mentins IN Florida with imported 81
matrl seed to ascertain. it possible, VIII?
the native leaf did not produce the lin
delicate Spots which smokers demanded
on their wrappers. som" success WIS Oh
tanned in these experiments in Flnrid a..
and SumItia lclf was actually raisci
thcr. which developed the spots. i:ut j.
was not IN Florida that the first fruits
OF these experiments wer, to lie realize
in 4 practical WY. Somt ui the pr"EIc>-
South and studied the results Of tn" GOV
ernmcut's Experts. They learned all they
could about The Cuitur'' and methods ga
curing in Florida and then holding theIl
own counsel the returned home ana
prepared Ia max" the most of their oh
serVations. The. Were convinced that
they could raise as good Sumatra leaj
as WAS EVER imported fiom Sumttr,t. Olive
cr"cn spots and all.
Last year ,uaf.vi 't IN acr. wa.
planted with the SumHtrH seed unicr til
new conditions aS :tn experiment. This
was up in the northwestern part OF the
State wh.rv III. conditions for tobacco
raising hay" not III the past been con-
sidcrcd ideal as in ~" Connecticut
valley. The tobacco growers of Winsted.
Pleasant Valley and Barkhamstead pooled
their interests in regard To the expert
ment with the new Sumatra and When
reasonable success crowned their efforts
last year they proceeded to plant a larger
crop the present season. This year be-
tween ~ and IA acres hay" been planted
with the Sim"tra under IN" new cnnJi-
tions. ana the crop. which has just heer
harvested and sold has proved the most
icmarha,ic in the history tpbacc" grow
irs in the Nutmeg State, II promise :. with
ont question. revolution in tobaccn
growing that will be Of farreaching i'm
r"rtancc. The selected pickingS from this
new crop bring from go to S2..A pcr
pound, while the average stocks sells for
| s. and s2.25 per pound. Imported SumatIa
has duty of 81 81 on il which gives the
growers of the native leaf an enormou;
advantage.
This new Sumatra * grown und'
tents where the Temperatures is some y
degrees higher all summer long an.
where changes are practically avoided
1t WAS this idea which enabled the grow
ers to attain their great object. Immcns.
canvas tents were erected over the fields
of tobacco 1t was believed that tn
greater humidity. combined with a highr"
temperature obtained in this way would
MAKE the SIImatra seed produce leaves
with the delicate olive spots on them so
much beloved by smokers. In this they
were not disappointed the plants raised
| this Year in Pleasant Valley and Bark
hamstcad produced leaves of the most
delicat" texture and coloring with a de-
liciouS aroma that even surpaSscs the
imported. and with spots that are perfect
| in design and appearance The canvas
tents that cover the fields protect the
tobacco plants from inclement weathe.
and violent storms. and make the leaves
| far more delicate than the native Suma-
! ira nlants. The plants are not only per
| feet in coloring and aroma. but very pro-
| to the pound. which gives some idea or
its lightness and dclcacy. This. nf
course, is Il great gain to the manufac
! turerS. who prefer it to the imported
which run far fewer leaves to the pound
\