The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-25
Crop Nets 0ne-Eighth of Gov-
 ernment Recei pts
NUMEROUS KINDS OF LEAF
Governments Experiments Have Been Very Successful In Producing Plants Best Adapted for
 Certain Conditions.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKlN.

tne ledefal government arise from taxes upon tobacco, a crop unknown to com meree before the discovery of America. is well known 10 persons who have intel 1 ested themselves in the tariff and have l followed the question at issue between tho l government and the tobacco trust but few of those who smoke cigars or pipes l know that the United States department l of agriculture treats the tobacco plant l almost as if 1t were q thing with animal l life, and that 1t responds so readily to scientific culture that plant breeding is carried on with as great sureness of re suits as the breeding of cattle
 At present between 750,0O0 and 000. .06O l acres of land In the United States are an l nually devoted to tobacco growing. The l crop is worth approximately s70,000 000 and l the governments income from the indus 1 try Is about equal to the value of the 1 raw product. The manufactured product l IS worth $500, 900 900, and 150, 900 persons are 1 employed in producing 1t. The great in l crease in the demand for cigars. cigarettes and smoking and chewing tobacco, neces- sitates an increased acreage or an in- creased yield, and the bureau of plant h. i dustry is sparing no enegry nor expense 1 to prove the adaptability of certain va | rieties 10 certain soils and climates with ] view to enlarging the crop.
 The variety of manufactured products due to varying tastes of consumers, makes i demand for many kinds of leaf This is met by breeding especial varieties and by blending different tobRcoes. It has been demonstrated that tobacco plants. like an- l imals, have strong Individuality, and that their tendency is to transmit their quail ] ities 10 progeny. The experts In tobacco i breeding proceed by seed selection to inn t1,a .,.a l bridization 10 improve breeds just IS l blooded animals are bred. An Illustration 1 of the possibilities of seed selection Hes l in the fact that White Burley tobacco, l grown largely in Kentucky, the first to- l bacco- producing state, had Its origin In ] the planting of seed saved by a Brown county, Ohio, planter from few light plants growing in n field of Red Burlcy. An illustration of the susceptibility of the tobacco plant to improvement by careful l handling during it's growth resulted from l the experience of D. A Shaw of Quincy, l Fla. who noticed that tobacco from l Sumatra seed produced a finer and more l desirable cigar wrapper leaf when grow l ing in the partial shade of trees. He hit upon the plan of covering tobacco plants ! with shades, and now there are thousands of acres of shaded fields in Florida, Texas Ind Porto Rico. Some of these are under Nate and some under coarse cloth Shad- Florida tobacco is now the highest 'ced variety grown in this country.
 seed aIeetlon and hybridizatlon It Is
 ble not only to control the size md
 of tobacco leaves. but also to limit
 lght of the stalk. For instapce, Su-
 tobacco graown under shade should
 ot up to a great height because
 ,des are more expensive to build
 more liable to damage by wind.
 a., lft,ar hnG
 reduce the height of the plants
 A large item of expense to
 that caused by "suckering"
 1as been shown that by
 om plants having few suck
 aay be largely eliminated.
 tes it is important to grow
 obaceo, and this has been
 selecting seed from eariY al plants.
 pf course interested in l th .y of his cigar. In an eit' drote bad burners from 1 clBs hau of plant industry | cohd' departments to defi- hlteH causes of bad or good ". w. Garner has l consl ratus consisting of a 1 selle es arranged that edcl Ar as man would sInol nt the "puffs'' are of eNae Angth in each tube. A cure aspirator draws the prop current of air through eacn hrate observations are lhau the rapdity and uni | lorh each one burns. In 'nes gar Is made from one pidi whether it Is of the nlle ype to avoid the to- pdc' eing influenced by the pre- ate product.
 E' efully scored upon the seN make up good burn er lgars burn evenly and rap s burn down one side III wrapper puckers ahead or black metallic looking rinl the cigar These are cal rners,' and are unde- si3 cter of the ash is also tes lkes badly, or is dark hn' from the plant from Wh Is discarded. It Is the .nt 'ernment experts that py rom plants that make will be possible to grow ciN The government also lh' rieties of tobacco In all co view to improving the p, IS sections of the union. II is now raising billion po annually and is by far LII st producer. Other to- n nt ire Cuba, Porto Rico, N' Java, India, the Philip rowing in this country days of John Rolfe who own the first crop pro- man, the extension of present proportions has ly in the last half cen he older states grew to- go, but at present there twenty five states grow mercially. Owing to the ited possibilities of ex- steadily increasing de- ect is for a largely in growing territory in the tobacco in Kentucky O. and the industry was l in 1872, the crops being l ids, hauled to the Cum rivers, and shipped by Orleans In 1S40 mar | lshed by dealers who and put it up for the En- | ausing the industry to Virginia the earliest to- as the first important ex-
 time, under a law for
 rtation of inferior grades
 up to the standard of
 ned. During the Civil war
 battlefield and her pro-
 lile that of Kentucky ex-
 then Kentucky has led all
 lue of her crop
 ire in Ohio dates back to
 )f the first quarer of the
 tury. Tennessee shipped
 ope as early as 1920. Louis-