The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-19
TOBACCO GROWING
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PRODUC- TION OE CLEAR-I4EAF TOBAC- co IN EAST TEXAS AND
 ALABAMA.
United States Department of Agricui- ture, Bureau of Soils--Ctrcutar No. 14-Milton Whitney,
 Chief of Bureau.

%Niitoh " hithVys ShANi OA fASNA Noe'
 few years ago the attention of the Bureau of Soils was called to a new to- bacco industry in east Texas. where it was reported considerable progress had been made in growing a domestic filler leaf from Cuban seed. It was found that quite an extensive acreage was be- ing planted around Willis. Montgomery County, and that several warehouses and cigar factories were in operation there.
 An examination of the tobacco, made by the Bureau expert, showed that some of the leaf produced was of ex- cellent quality, surpassing in aroma any domestic leaf examined up to that time, but that the crop as a whole for reasons not determined, was not such as to warrant the prediction of any phenomenal development of the in- dustry along the lines then being fol- lowed
 The matter was again given some study in 1899, when the Bureau was engaged in making collection of domestic tobaccos for exhibition at the Paris Exposition. Included in this ex- hibit were a number of samples of the Texas tobaccos. and the marked superiority of some the leaf was noticed, although, owing to the manner
 
 it was impractioable to determine whether this quality was the result of the particular soil upon which the leaf had been grown, of the kind of seed used. of any special system of fertili- zation. or of care and skill in handling and curing.
 In 1901 the Bureau made a survey of the soils around Willis, at the same time Investigating the condition of the tobacco industry, and especially the re- lations of the quality of the leaf to the soil producing it. The tobacco in- terests were then found in a languish- ing condition. From a maximum acreage of ,000 acres planted in 1898, the plant ings had declined to 506 acres in 1899 and thence to less than 100 acres in 1900; and the growers, although need- ing some crop, like tobacco, in which to specialize, had become very much discouraged. In the following year the investigation was carried further by a tobacco expert, who began experiments in growing tobacco which were not conclusive. The causes assigned by the Bureaus agent for the decline in the production of this crop were main ly two-the lack of knowledge among 1 the growers as to the methods oI handling the crop, and the peculiar market conditions always to be met with in trade so highly specialized as the tobacco trade However, an i'm portant result of of the soil survey and experiments around Willis was the dis covery that the type of soil had a | marked intieuence on the quality of leai produced, and that the leaf grown or the type given the name orangeburg | sandy loan Ca reddish or grayish sandy | loam with red clay subsoiD possessed a much finer aroma than the leaf growr | on any other soil in the area.
 Other surveys made during 1902, 190: | and 1904 have established the fact that the Orangeburg sandy loam Is soi of wide distribution in east Texas as well as in the other Gulf and Soutf Atlantic States. It Is associated witt other Orangeburg soil, of which tn, l Orangeburg clay Is also believed to b, a good tobacco soil. In Anderson County alone 102,S00 acres of thu IOrangeburg sandy loam and 35,9O4 acre | of Orangeburg clay were mapped. Il Nacogdoches County in an area of 10 square miles mapped around the tow of Nacogdoches, 16.320 acres consiste of the Orangeburg sandy loam, and 16, 704 acres of the Orangeburg clay. l. Houston County large bodies of thi sandy loam are found. In Alabam | acres of Orangeburg sandy loam. whil surveys in South Carolina. Georgis Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana hay included areas of this type.
 There is thus an ample area of SO suitable for the growing of cigar-lea tobacco in Texas and other Souther States, and in Texas particularly, an the thought occurred that whateve deficiencies in the leaf formely pro duced were due to an indiscriminatin
 use of soils might at once be eliminate
 in the light of knowledge of soil adaI
 tation gained during the Willis an
 subsequent surveys. Following ol
 this idea, the Bureau in 1903 conduct
 ed a series of tobacco experiments O
 the Orangeburg soil around Nacoe doches, Lufkin, and Woodville, Texa
 Three acres of tobacco were grow near the aforementioned town. thre acres at Lufkin and three and one-ha
 acres at Woodville; the entire crol after fermentation and packing amounting to 3.S6S pounds. Durin
 1904 further experiments were cor ducted at Nacogdoches. Crockett, an
 Giddings, in all about ten acres of tC
 bacco being grown Owing to UT
 favorable conditions at some of tn
 stations the tobacco on only eight an
 three-fourths acres was harveste,
 from which 5.461 pounds. or SPA pound per acre, were secured.
 The 1903 crop is now being sold an distributed among the principal cigs
 manufacturers of the country, who eX
 press satisfaction with the leaf. It