The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-10
TOBACCO CENTRE
OF THE UNIVERSE
Richmond Lays Claim to the
Distinction Of Being
Greatest Of All.
-------- III
THE LEAF MARKET
FOR ALL THE WORLD.
Home Of the Famous Sun-Cured
Leaf - Enormous Storage and
Sales Warelouse s-Immense
Factories for Making the
Chewing and Snok-
ing Tobaccos.
BY FRANK s. wooDsoN,
Industrial Editor.

lnuuStrIaI EdltOfs
With all the opening up Of tobacco
markets in smaller Virginia and North
and South Carolina towns, little old,
solid old Richmond still maintains its
supremacy as the greatest Of all the
| leaf tobacco markets as a leaf tobacco
trading centre, and as a tobacco manu-
featuring emporium.
There is in Richmond more money
invested in the tobacco business than
| in any other Southern market, mora
and costller factories are engaged III
the manufacture OF the plug and snok-
| ing tobacco, and their combined output
is greater than In any other Southern
! town; there Is more storage room for
! leaf tobacco. after 1t has been put in
order and priced in the hogsheads.
than In any Southern market, and more
OF the weed and more kinds of it finds
its way to Richmond than any otheI@
market, and Richmond is absolutely tho
only market In the world to which the
famous sun-cured tobacco comes in tho
loose leaf state.
Greatest of All Markets.
/ More foreign buyers for European
| and Asiatic governmental monopolies
| are on this market than any other, and,
in fact, Richmond Is the only market
| in the country on which are buyers for
each and every one OF the foreign coun-
tries which monopolze the manufacture
| of tobacco within their domains. There
are more factories here that are known
as independents" than in any city OF
| the United States. 81
These are some OF the facts about
the tobacco business which the figures
will sustain. and propose In this arr
ticle to bring out those figures. Rich
mond has been a tobacco market ever
since 1t has been town or city. and
even before there was much OF set
and the few white people who got as
high up the river as the falls OF tina
James carried on some kind OF trading
in the seductive weed.
The Original suncurcd.
! The first tobacco ever seen by white
men was found in Virginia in the year
1907. and was brought to the attention
of the world by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Every school boy knows all about
this. but comparatively few people are
aware that the Identical kind of to-
bacco which Sir Walter found here and
which gave him large part OF his
4 fame has persistently refused to grow
in any other soil than that where it
was originally found: that Is to say in
a small area OF old Virginia, and that
. area Is confined to just few counties.
or parts Of counties. adjacent to the
city Of Richmond and the James River.
The method of curing and handling this
particular species of tobacco Is thd
same that prevailed 400 years ago. and
. this can be said OF no other kind OF
tobacco in the world 1t Is what is
known as "sun-cured.' and for 200
years every leaf of 1t that grows and
!; is sun-cured is brought to Richmond
:, in the leaf state and sold, and from 60
to Is per cent. of It isamanufactured in.
Richmond. To these facts is largely
due the worldwide reputation Rich
mond has and has ever had for produce
ing superior chewing tobacco OF the
pure and original sun-cured flavor
which manufacturers in other places
and chemists and scientists the world
: over have been and are still unsuc-
cessfully endeavoring to initiate.
Grown Within Small Area.
The peculiar tobacco, that is. sun.
. cured originally was grown In large
quantities only in Louisa. Caroline and
Fluvanna counties. A little was grown
In Hanover, King William, Goochland,
; Henrico and one or two other counties.
J all north of the James. Now King and
Queen and Essex counties grow small
quantities. and old Hanover has caught
: up with Caroline and Louisa and Flu
wanna, and this year has sold more
than either of them, and in the mat
: ter OF price reached the top notch,
lot from that county having brought
: on the Richmond market 500 per 100,
the highest price SO far paid. Han
) over also captured the big premiums
J at the last State Fair.
( On the south side OF the James. In
parts of several counties touching the
river tobacco very closely resenl-
$ bling the leaf grown on the north side
9 is cultivated to small extent, which
: is known as "air-cured." In appear
ance 1t Is so much like the northside
product an expert Is required to dis
: tfnruish the difference when the weed
. is placed on the warehouse floors for
5 sale. but after 1t gets into the plug
: the chewer detects the difference as
/. soon as a quid gets we'll settled IN
his Jaw.
True the "air-cured" makes very
n good chew, but, In the opinion OF the
: masticator. is far from being the equal
] of the famous sun-cured.
5 How aud When Sold.
al The leaf tobacco year opens in Rich.
n mond on the 1st day OF October. and
! while It does not close until the 30th
$ of the following September. the loose
l lleaf business Is practically over at thu
. warehouses by Jane lst only small
!, lots being sold AFTER that date. The
y total sales on the floors of the four
Richmond warehouses from October
: 1907. to the soth OF April were 7,so3,1a4
Q pounds, which sold all the way from
: 81 to $50 per hundred pounds, tho aver
age be!ug s10.s4 per hundred. This
was an Increase OF 123,Ssa pounds over
the came period Of the last tobacco year
and an advance In the average paid ct
, Isa,o5 per hundred. or the quantity
sold, 1t is estimated that 5,eoo,ooo
: pounds were OF the sun-eured va rtetN
coming by wagon ard rail direct from
. the farmers OF the counties above
named. The remainder was what tina
+ farmers and dealers called thA!
, "smokea" tobaccos---that Is to say. the