Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-09-10
HOW THE TURKS
Raise TOBACCO
Cigarette Leaf Valued at $582 900
Imported by United States.

| AOcAl oAaSo az QOo6yVVS
Imported by United States.
Cigarette tobacco is one of the chief
crops and one of the most important
exports of Turkey. In 1908 the United
States purchased from Samsoun, in the
consular district of Trebizond, S5S2, 200
worth of cigarette tobacco In this part
of Turkey tobacco is raised chiefly at
Samsoun, Bafras, Trebizond and Pla-
tana.
Trebizond tobacco is weak; it has
very little aroma; the leaves are large,
very light colored, and do not keep very
well. Samsoun and Bafra tobaccos are
stronger, have more aroma, do not bite
the tongue; the leaves are smaller and
darker.
The country, where the best Turkish
tobacco is grown is a low mountainous
region bordering the south shore of the
Black sea. 1t lies between the 10th
and 41st degrees of north latitude. A
chain of mountains, once densely for
ested, but now quite bare, 1000 to 5000
feet high, runs along the coast at vary
! ing distances back from the sea and
seems to act as a curtain to hold the
clouds and the moisture which rises
from the sea. Most of the tobacco fields
are on the slopes of the foothills and in
the lower valleys from half mile to
three miles from the shore. AS a rule,
they are small, one to four acres. Snow
is not abundant IN this region, and
there is little frost. 1t IS considered
desirable that the ground should freeze
little in the winter before it is culti-
waited. Rain is quite abundant until
June, and the atmosphere is nearly al
ways humid. Ia the Trebizond region
clear sky and a bright sun are ex-
tremely rare. The summer is hot. The
tobacco fields are not irrigated. Ac-
cording to the general opinion here, it
is climate rather than soil that causes
the difference in the various kinds of
tobacco.
The methods of tobacco culture in this
country are primitive and much is left
to chance and nature. No systematic
rotation of crops is practiced, no scien-
ti6c fertilizing and little cultivating.
Some fields are planted with tobacco
year after year without any rest, while
a few, the least desirable ones, are left
fallow every three or four years.
About the middle or end of March
the seed, mixed with little sand, is
sown on small bed of ground at one
side of the field or in some garden. This
starting bed is carefully spaded and
hoed and cleaned from stones and
weeds.
When the plants are from four to six
inches high they are transplanted in
the field and set out in rows about
eighteen i'ches apart and the plants
placed about a foot apart in the rows
They are watered once or twice when
first set out and rarely after that. Lit
tie wedding or cultivating is done. No
machines are used.
AT Trebizond, when the tobacco is
twelve to fifteen inches high the tops
are broken off and the shoots are pinch
ed. A few stocks are left for seed. At
Samsoun little or no budding or pinch
ing is done. There they try to get
many small leaves, while at Trebizond
they look for large leaves, quantity
rather quality.
Harvesting begins in the latter part
of June and the pickings follow one af
ter the other throughout the summer.
At Trebizond there are three plckings,
(1) the lowest leaves and the poorest in
quality, (2) medium leaves of medium
quality, (3) the best quality, large
leaves, strong and of darker color. The
seeds are gathered in September and no
use is made OF them excepting for plant
ing.
In Trebizond the average yield is
about 500 pounds of tobacco per acre.
LII hOGtillSOull IL 10 dOOou tco3 dllet III
Bafra it averages about 900 pounds per
acre. In 1908 Trebizond, including
Platana, produced about $4,000 hun
dredweight; Samsoun and Bafra each
produced abont the same amount, and
all other portions of this district pro-
duced another $4,000 hundredweight.
The leaves, as gathered, are placed on
strings, each quality by itself, and the
strings are hung on horizontal poles.
They are dried in the sun near a cabin
so arranged that in case of rain the
poles can easily be run into the cabin
to protect the tobacco. After the leaves
have been well dried they are put into
damp house or cellar, where they re-
main until they become soft, when they
are made up into packets of six to ten