Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1901-08-19
TOBACCO CULTURE
: In new MEXICO
1t Has Been Made a Success on a Small
Scale and Should be Tried More
Generally.
4 GOOD GRADE Can Be RAISED


7~Ssfcco can be raised III this territory and
that it's intelligent culrure should bring
a nice profit to New Mexico ranch own
ers. AS result Of the interest aroused
I through correspondence between James
A. Davis, Industrial commissioner for
! the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail-
way company, and the Albuquerque
Commercial club, samples of the New
Mexico product were submitted to w.
G. Pilkington of Virginia, an authority
on tobacco. He reported as follows:
1.-THE tobacco you sent to me has an
excellent flavor, but owing to the fact
that it was cut before being thoroughly
ripe it cured up green. In as dry eli
mate as New Mexico, with the proper
kind of seed to begin with, tobacco
ought to cure a splendid bright red col.
or without using any fire at all But in
order to get the right color and flavor,
two things are necessary-the right
kind of seed, and allowing the plant to
become thoroughly ripe.
I'm New Mexico the plant bed should
be made in February and should be
from 20 to so yards square, according to
the size of the crop contemplated, and
should be irrigated The plant bed
should be gotten in thorough order and
the seed should be sown in it by the Is.
of March.
"The plants should be ready to set out
in June, if the ground is in good order,
one rain or one irrigation will make the
crop. Tobacco requires less water than
any other plant + know of. The great
trouble with us is that we have too
much rain, which makes it cabbage or
bunch up. If we could have moisture
just when we wanted it, and not too
much, and such soil as you have in the
west, we would make the finest tobacco
in the world"
Further experimental planting last
season resulted most satisfactorily.
These experiments were chiefly carried
on by Major Frederick Muller at Santa
Fe, Herman Blueher at Albuquerque,
and r. M Stockton at Belen, in the
central part of the Rio Grande valley.
Speaking of the latter district Mr..
Stockton says:
II have grown tobacco on small
scale in this part of the territory for
the last thirty years with very satis-
factory results. OF varieties for cigars,
I have found the following to be espec-
tally adapted for this locality: Zim-
mer's Spanish, Comstock and Havana,
an imported seed. Besides these I have
also grown Bonanza, Sterling, Improv-
ed White Curley, and General Grant.
My opinion is that the fine Havana va
rieties will do as well here as in Florida.
and that any tobacco grown anywhere
in the United States can be grown with
the same degree of success in this part
of the Rio Grande valley"
In the vicinity of Albuquerque, Mr..
Blueher, who has amassed fortune
from truck gardening, has met with the
most pronounced success. His expert
ments have been made with such va
rieties as Zimmer's Spanish, the small
Cuban Havana and large Havana, all
of which did well, but the best reports
came from the small Havana, tobacco
nists in Louisville, KY, declaring that
when it is properly cured. it is fully the
equal of the imported Cuban article,
and superior even to the high grade to-
bacco which in recent years mas
brought Willett county, Texas, into
wide spread fame and proved so highly
profitable to the farmers thereabouts.
Samples of Mr.. Blueher's product are
now undergoing a ten months sweating
process in the establishment of dealer
in Ohio who confidently predicts that it
will come through the test with results
that will prove a surprise to those en-
gagged generally in the tobacco trade.
Properly handled, it is said these finer
grades of tobacco will yield in New
Mexico 1000 pounds to the acre, worth
in the markets Of the country 5000 to
s., 200. This season, through Mr.. Blue
hers interest in the subject, Mr..
Hunter, Kentuckian, has been in
duced to set out some $4,000 plants OF
the small Cuban variety near Berna-
lilo, and at this writing they are re-
ported as very promising stand.
Thus it appears that the near future
is very encouraging for the introduce
ton of new and highly profitable IN
dustry in New Mexico. With the re-
suits thus far attained, with a soil and
climate that seem to be specially adap-
ted to tobacco culture, and an abund-
ance Of cheap and reliable labor at
hand, there would seem to be no obsta-
Gle in the way to making tobacco rails
ing one of the chief sources of produc-
tive wealth throughout the Rio Grande
valley and the valleys Of its tributaries.