Evening star., 1917-04-08

25t,D0o and 500 coo American farmers
are engaged in the tobacco industry.
The farmers live in fifteen states. |
am talking, you understand. about the
commercial growers Of tobacco. about
the men who figure in the market.
Kentucky. as 4 producer. leads the
country with yearly crop of 3Hn,ooo.-
600 pounds. North Carolina and Viz
[ MIA each grow more than 100. .VoH.boU
pounds, ohio Su,000,0o1 pounds, Teu-
nessee 10000, ,oon pounds, Pennsylvania
ANA Wisconsin, $4,000. 0u0 pounds each,
and then follow. in the order ! give,
Connecticut, South Carolina, Maryland.
West Virginia. Indiana. Massachusetts,
New York and Florida. Kentucky, COM
monty, grows about one-third of the
American crop.
Export tobacco and that which is
used in this country for the manufac-
ture of plug, finecut. smoking and Gig
arett" tobacco and also snuff. is mar
keted. principally, at Lexington and
louisville, Ky: Danvllle and Lynch
burg. Va; Baltimore and Wilson.
Greenville and Winston Salem, y. g.
The leading points of collection for ci
gar tobacco are Hartford, Conn; Lam
caster. Pa. and Edgerton, Wis.
The exports amount to 400000-G0o
bounds yearly and the imports 10 6n,-
100000 pounds. half of which is Cuban
leaf and half Turkish tobacco for Gig
arettes. The same kind of tobacco
that was shipped to England from
jamestown. Va. in 1912, is now being
sold to Great Britain. Maryland sent
tobacco to France and Holland three
centuries ago. 1t sent the identical
variety of tobacco to those countries
in 1916. one generation OF tobacco
users passes its particular taste fof
particular sort of tobacco 20 the gen
Grafton that follows Anyway that
has been the case among the English,
the French and the Dutch
Cuba produces the highest priced to-
5acco grown in the world. Also some
of the cheapest Prices there range
from > cents to $50 a pound The lat
ter grade. made up Of a leaf gathered
here and leaf gathered there. is linn
tied in quantity and is smoked, so it is
supposed. by kings. czars and en-
nerorS. The fine aromatic tobacco OF
Cuba is not grown in all parts of the
island. but on a little spot near the
western coast. the size of which is no
more than twenty-five square miles.
Such tobacco can be produced nowhere
else. We have tried to grow il in this
country, but without success.
Long experiments We're made in Il
county of Texas where soil, water and
so forth. we thought. approXimated
conditions in Cuba. Tobacco was pro-
duced. but there was no place for it in
our market. 1t was not good enough
for ten-cent cigar and was too good
that is. too costly to produce-for d
fve-Cent cigar. Cuban toba eco is dear
and. besides its import duty. collected
by the government of the United
States. is Is cents ii pound
The first settlers found the Indians
cultiyatins tobacco in little gardens.
Tobacco of the 81 me sort is now grow
ing wild in this country. but il is so
coarse and rank that ii can't be used.
The variety exists and can be seen as
far north as the state of New York
and is cultivated in China and Russia
The tobacco that our farmers produce
came long ago from the Orinoco re-
Gion of South America. Planted at
different places. under various condi-
tions as the quality and texture of the
soil. the amount of moisture and so
forth, ii changed III lear, color. taste
and aroma
Thus it is that We have strong and
mild tobacco and light and dark to-
harco. There are numerous other va
rlations. The growing of tobacco is "A
complex undertaking, and many things
are to be considered and dealt with
The planters of Kentucky could not
follow the methods of New England.
whore tobacco is grown under cheese
cloth.
The best wrappers for cigars come
from the Connecticut valley Tobacco
out of which they are made is as thin
as tissue paper. Five thousand acres
are given up to this important branch
of the cigar industry, and every foot
of the land is under tents that are
from nine to ten feet high. Thus the
crop is planted. cultivated and har-
vested in the shade. | know of a five
hundred-acre tract that is operated un-
der one management. The most inten-
sive farming in the world is carried
on in the Connecticut valley. where an
acre of land. season. after season, pro-
duces thousand dollars worth of to-
bacco To give you an indication of
it's value. let me say that the duty on
wrapper tobacco brought into this
country is S1.SJ II pound.
early in the nineteenth century. say
from the year 1900 to 1880, many land
owners in Maryland migrated to south
ern Ohio. They carried tobacco seed
with them. and so established the in
dustry in that state Such tobacco is
still sent to the market in Baltimore.