CHAPTERX.

Yara Cigars.

This variety of cigars is made from tobacco grown on the Island of Cuba, bearing the same name as the cigars. They are highly esteemed by those who smoke only this kind, but are not liked by most smokers of Havana cigars. Most of them are exported to Europe, very few of them finding their way to this country. It is somewhat difficult to compare them with Havana cigars, as the flavor is essentially different. In comparison with other brands made upon the Island, the Yara holds an unimportant place, yet, in some parts of Cuba, it is preferred to any other kind. In London the Yara is a favorite with many old smokers, who use no others. Old smokers describe the Yara cigar as having a "sweet" flavor, but one unaccustomed to them, like Hazard and others, pronounce them bitter, and having a "peculiar saline taste." It can, doubtless, be said with truth concerning the Yara cigar,that unlike other varieties, such as Havana, Manilla, Paraguayan, Swiss and Brazil, the taste for them is not natural, but, when once formed, becomes very decided. As a general rule smokers of Yara cigars think other kinds are deficient in flavor, and are wanting in quality, because they lack the peculiar flavor belonging only to Yara cigars. Be this as it may, we hardly think the Yara cigar suited to the cigarist's taste at the present time. Its aromatic flavor is not adapted to the general taste, and some little time is required to develop a decided love for it. We prefer the "Cubas," made from a good quality of leaf grown near Trinidad, Puerto-Principe, and other cities east of Havana. The peculiar flavor of Yara cigars is owing to the character of the soil, rather than to any artificial process employed in manufacturing. In moistening Havana leaf Catalan wine is used, and other flavoring extracts. This may (and does) change the condition and quality of the tobacco, but evenwiththis treatment, the flavor of Yara tobacco would be unlike that of Havana leaf.

Manilla Cigar and Cheroot.

This well-known variety of cigars is manufactured from Manilla tobacco grown in Luzerne, one of the Philippine Islands, which is known as superior leaf for cigar purposes. Manilla cigars have an extensive reputation, but principally in the East and in Europe. These cigars are made in various forms and shapes, some of them are called cheroots (the term used in the East for cigars) and are principally known for their aromatic flavor, entirely distinct from that of Havana cigars.Some smokers think that they have the same effect as varieties of tobacco that have been moistened with the juice of the poppy, giving the cigar a flavor like that of opium, and as a natural result, securing a light-colored ash. There are not as many colors of Manilla cigars as there are of Havana, and they are not as closely assorted. Some of them are a high-cinnamon color, and are far from being a strong cigar. Their flavor is not always uniform, and is not denoted by the color as in other varieties. The flavor is not unpleasant, but is better suited to those who prefer a mild rather than a full flavored cigar. The aroma is pleasant and mild, and to those but little acquainted with them, agreeable. Manilla tobacco usually burns well, if the leaf is of good quality and well sweated, still it is known as a non-burning tobacco. As the tobacco is of good body, the cigars do not usually burn as well as other kinds. Select a light-colored rather than a dark cigar if one of good quality is desired. Both the cigars and cheroots are made of the same quality of leaf, and are of about the same size—differing, however, in shape. There are but few grades of Manilla cigars, and most of them are solid and well wrapped. They are flat rather than round, and draw well but do not hold fire like some other cigars. The leaf makes a very good wrapper for a tobacco of its thickness and strength.

Swiss Cigars.

These well-known cigars have but little reputation in this country, owing to the fact of their being but little known. In Europe the cigars of Luzerne have no insignificant reputation, and are generally liked by smokers who prefer a mild and agreeable cigar. These cigars are usually dark-colored, but not strong, and have but little variety of flavor. Travelers and tourists through Switzerland speak of Swiss cigars as being of agreeable flavor, and unlike any other found in Europe. With American tobacco, those of a dark color are usually strong, but with European tobaccos this is not always the case—they possess much less strength, and can be usedmore freely than the tobacco of America. These cigars are usually pressed, and burn well, leaving a dark-colored ash, and emitting a fragrant odor. Most of those used in this country may be more properly termed cheroots, both ends being cut, allowing a free passage of air, which is usually the case with all kinds of cheroots, or Eastern and European cigars. There is not that freshness of flavor to Swiss cigars peculiar to Havana's, and they lack that essential quality which renders the latter so delicious and enjoyable. The Swiss cigar is in perfection when just made or rolled, and such should be chosen instead of those that have been made for some time and closely packed and dried.

Paraguay Cigars.

These cigars are made of one of the finest varieties of leaf tobacco known to commerce. Although unknown to this country—both the cigars and the leaf tobacco have a deserved reputation in Europe, and it is beyond all question one of the finest tobaccos in the world for cigars. These cigars have a delicacy of flavor unapproachable in any other variety, and may justly be termed the finest at least of all South American cigars. It is one of the finest burning tobaccos in the world, and does not fail to suit the taste of the most fastidious of smokers. The finest are of dark color and wholly free from any rank or unpleasant taste. These cigars are uniformly mild and have but little variety of flavor, the ashis dark-colored, firm and strong, clinging with tenacity to the cigar, which is the best evidence of the quality of the leaf. In Paraguay they are considered superior to all other kinds and are smoked continuously without any seemingly ill effect. Page alludes to the custom of smoking as being universal, "Men, women, and children—delicate, refined girls, and youngsters who would not with us be promoted to the dignity of pantaloons—smoke with a gravity and gusto that is irresistibly ludicrous to a foreigner." The Paraguayans consider excessive smoking of other tobacco as injurious but not of the delicate flavored leaf of Paraguay. These cigars are rolled firm and strong usually small and hold fire until the entire cigar has been consumed.

This variety of cigars, although of excellent flavor, is hardly known outside of Central America. They are made from Guatemala tobacco—one of the few varieties of tobacco bearing white blossoms, and possessed of a similar flavor to Mexican tobacco. Although Guatemala tobacco has not been thoroughly tested by the great manufacturers of cigars either in Europe or America, it doubtless is well suited for cigars. It is a distinct variety from those kinds bearing pink and yellow blossoms, and its growth and quality would seem to suggest some doubt as to its quality and adaptability for cigars. Stephens and other travelers seem to regard it as tobacco of excellent quality, and allude to its constant use by the ladies who smokepuros, a cigar made of a single leaf, or formed entirely of tobacco. They also use thepapeloteswrapped in paper and sometimes in the dried leaf of maize. It would seem probable from the climate of Central America, that Guatemala tobacco would be exactly suited for the manufacture of cigars, but so little is known concerning it, and its cultivation is so limited, that at present it is simply a matter of conjecture.

The cigars of Brazil, like those made of South Americantobacco, are noted for their superior flavor. They are made of "Brazilian Aromatic" one of the finest tobaccos of Brazil. Although but little known in this country, both the tobacco and the cigars are highly esteemed in Europe, where most of the leaf is sent. Both Brazilian cigars and the celebrated "Tauri Cigarettes" possess a delicacy of flavor, described by travelers as unapproachable by any other variety of cigars and cigarettes. A late traveler says concerning them:—

"Accustomed to smoke only Havana cigars, I was unprepared to recognize any others as being worthy even of the name of cigars. I was presented with a box of Brazilian cigars of commendable size and finish, of a dark color and of a good flavor, before trying them, I ignited one, merely to test their quality and not from any impression that they were worth even the value of the cheapest Havanas. Great was my surprise to find them of an agreeable flavor and very pleasant to the taste."

The leaf is very thin, and without doubt, well suited for a cigar wrapper. The flavor of all cigars made from South American tobacco is similar, especially those made from tobacco grown east of the Andes. A writer, alluding to their mode of manufacturing cigars for their own use says:

"They take the leaf after it is cured and ready for manufacture into cigars, and dampen it, not with pure water but with water containing the juice of the poppy so as to produce the effect of opium. When prepared in this manner they are much esteemed by the Brazilians and especially by the herders."

This was the name given to cigars made some forty or fifty years ago composed of Connecticut seed-leaf, or as it was then called, American tobacco. The fillers were selected from various kinds of tobacco, including Virginia, Kentucky, and Spanish, using for a wrapper Spanish, American or Maryland leaf. At this time the tobacco was not sorted as now, and was made up into cigars after being stripped, but the cigars after being manufactured were kept for some time before they were sold. At this time but little pains comparatively was taken in their manufacture: they were not assorted or shaded according to the present standard, and werepacked in chestnut instead of cedar boxes containing from one to five hundred cigars each. A manufacturer of cigars nearly fifty years ago gives the following account of his method:

"We selected for wrappers those leaves having white specks (white rust) upon them, which greatly increased the sale of the cigars, and which were considered by smokers to be much better than those not wound with fancy wrappers. After the cigars were packed in the boxes a little Spanish bean was grated upon the cigars, or a single bean was placed between the cigars in the box."

At this time some little taste was evinced for colors, and cigars of a "bright cinnamon red," and afterwards, of a dark brown, were considered the finest, while leaf that was black was considered worthless for wrappers. A kind of cigar which is distinctly American and which is made to a considerable extent, is called a seed cigar, and is made from tobacco grown in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. These cigars have but little reputation, and are of inferior quality and manufacture. A very good cigar, call a "sprig cigar," is made from Havana and Connecticut seed-leaf filler wound with a seed wrapper which gives a good flavor similar to clear Havana.

A full flavored cigar like a sip of rare old wine is inspiring to a lover of the "royal plant" and amid the sublime and companionable thoughts that its fragrance engenders, one is led oftentimes to reflect on its rare virtues and the benign effects it produces wherever known. Thus it lightens the toil of the weary laborer plodding along the highway of life. The student poring over musty tomes sees with a clearer perception as its fragrance accompanies him along the pathway of science and of history. The poet "as those wreathes up go" sees Helicon's fresh founts flowing clearer and purer. The musician "lord of sounds," evokes tones from his instrument never before heard by mortal ear. The warrior, "fresh from glory's field" is charmed by its fragrance as he dreams of shattered battalions and sleeping hosts. The farmer nurtured amid the odors of the "balmyplant" honors the "useless weed" as a promoter of happiness and an increaser of gains. While:

"Kings smoke when they ruminateOver grave affairs of state."

The exile too, far from home and kindred smokes on as he muses of happier hours gone never to return. And thus amid all the varied ranks and walks of life this solace of the mind and comfort of life exhales its fragrance and breathes its benedictions over all.[Back to Contents]

TThe grounds selected for the cultivation of tobacco are called by various names even in the same countries. Thus in the Connecticut Valley, such lands are called tobacco fields, at the South they are known as tobacco plantations, while in Cuba they are called Vegas or tobacco farms. In Cuba almost the entire tobacco farm is planted to tobacco while at the South and in New England this is rarely the case unless the plantations or tobacco farms are small and contain but a few acres. In the Connecticut Valley and more especially along the banks of the Connecticut River, where the farms are frequently small, this is sometimes the case but farther removed from the river, where the farms are much larger but a few acres of the best land is used for this purpose.

The grounds selected for the cultivation of tobacco are called by various names even in the same countries. Thus in the Connecticut Valley, such lands are called tobacco fields, at the South they are known as tobacco plantations, while in Cuba they are called Vegas or tobacco farms. In Cuba almost the entire tobacco farm is planted to tobacco while at the South and in New England this is rarely the case unless the plantations or tobacco farms are small and contain but a few acres. In the Connecticut Valley and more especially along the banks of the Connecticut River, where the farms are frequently small, this is sometimes the case but farther removed from the river, where the farms are much larger but a few acres of the best land is used for this purpose.

In the Connecticut Valley the tobacco fields average from one to forty acres, rarely exceeding the latter and indeed seldom including as large an area. The average size of tobacco fields is about five acres—sometimes all in one lot but oftener divided into several small pieces on various parts of the farm.

The Connecticut planter is deeply interested in the plant and gives it his undivided attention from seed-sowing until it is sold to the speculator or manufacturer. All other crops in his opinion are of but little importance compared with the great New England product, one crop is frequently not off his hands before he is preparing for another. The Connecticut planter stands first in the rank of tobacco growers; he isthoroughly acquainted with the nature of the plant and knows just what land to select and what kind of fertilizers to apply. He has reduced the cultivation to almost an exact science and can obtain (the season being favorable) the color most desirable. He has thoroughly tested all kinds of fertilizers, and knows just what kinds will produce the various shades of color as well as the desired texture and size of leaf. No other tobacco planter so thoroughly understands the methods of curing, sweating and doing up the crop, and he takes no little pride in showing his crop to the buyer.

Connecticut Tobacco Field.

It is his aim to obtain not only the best leaf for a cigar-wrapper but also a tobacco of the finest possible flavor; hence he tries the principal varieties grown in Cuba, Brazil and other countries in order to judge of their quality and whether they can be cultivated with profit on his lands. He has the best constructed sheds for hanging and curing and the latest and most improved agricultural implements for the cultivation of the plants. The greatest pains are taken in securing the crop and harvesting and handling the plants without injuring the leaves. The tobacco fields are kept in the best possible condition, no weeds or grass is allowed to grow andthe entire surface is as free from stones as a lawn. He usually, if his farm is small, plants the same field year after year, securing a much finer leaf and by yearly manuring keeping the ground fertile and in good condition. When the tobacco is stripped the utmost care is taken to assort the leaves and he frequently shades or assorts the colors, obtaining fancy prices for such "selections."

The Connecticut grower is well acquainted with the different soils, and is able to judge with considerable accuracy in regard to selecting the right fields for tobacco. The warmest land is chosen—mellow and free from stones or shaded by trees and prepared as if for a garden. All of the improved methods of obtaining early plants as well as transplanting, he adopts, and in spite of early freezing, is generally able to outwit Jack Frost, and secure the plants before this great foe of the weed ravages the fields. It may safely be said of the Connecticut planter that he secures more even crops than any other grower of the plant, and obtains the finest colored leaf for cigar wrappers.

The growers are thoroughly informed as regards the prices, and although the buyers may steal suddenly upon them, are generally prepared to "set" a price upon their crops. Some refuse to sell on the poles, or even after it is stripped, preferring to pack their tobacco until it has passed through the sweat, when larger prices are obtained. Many growers not only pack their own crop, but buy up that of others, thus acting as both producer and buyer. During the growing of the crop, and particularly after it has been cured and stripped, the growers congregate together, and talk over the condition of the crop and the prices likely to be realized. Sometimes they form an association or club, agreeing to "hold" the tobacco for satisfactory prices, and frequently employing an agent to sell the crop. Many of the tobacco fields or farms in the Connecticut valley are very valuable, especially those near large cities and means of transportation; such lands often selling for one thousand dollars per acre.

The finest tobacco lands in the Connecticut valley arelocated in the vicinity of Hartford about fifty miles from Long Island Sound. These lands are near enough to the sound to get the salts in the atmosphere from the south winds that blow up the valley in the precise amount which the plant needs. Not much farther north does the atmosphere possess this peculiar quality, while lower down the river the salt air is too strong for the plant, and the leaves in consequence are thick and harsh. Fine tobacco leaves can be manufactured as well as fine broadcloth or costly silks. These results depend in a great manner upon the proper soil and the fertilizers, applied together with the most thorough cultivation of the plants. The soil of our best Connecticut tobacco fields is alluvial, varying in composition from a heavy sandy loam to a light one containing very little clay.

For the past few years light soil has been preferred for the tobacco field, on account of the demand for light colored leaf. The soil can hardly be too light when leaf of a light cinnamon color is desired; as the color of all kinds of tobacco depends upon the soil and the fertilizers used.

A quarter of a century since Havana tobacco commanded very high prices, both in this country and in Europe. It burnt freely and purely. The Cuban planters, although getting rich on the ordinary crops, were not satisfied with their gains, and attempted to increase their crops by the use of guano and artificial fertilizers. They secured heavier crops, but the quality became poorer. The prices fell off and the planters did not realize as much for their crops as formerly, although the growth was larger. About this time Connecticut seed leaf became known as a cigar wrapper, and in a short time took the lead for this purpose, as it still continues to. It cured finely, burnt white and free, and in a short time brought high prices. The profit realized from its growth led some Connecticut growers into the same mistake as it did the Cuban planters, when they, by misguided culture, nearly ruined their crops and injured the reputation of Cuban tobacco.

Artificial fertilizers and strong manure produce a leaflarger and heavier, but their effect on the character of the leaf is injurious, the salts destroying its fine qualities, so that it sweats and cures poorly, and compared with the finest leaf burns dark and emits a rank and unpleasant odor.

The Connecticut tobacco grower requires considerable capital when engaged extensively in the business, as ordinarily he buys large quantities of fertilizers and requires many hands to cultivate the crop. On the largest tobacco farms the sheds or "hanging houses" are built near or in the field, and are sometimes very large, say two or three hundred feet in length, and capable of holding the crop of from five to ten acres.

Home of the Connecticut Planter.

His broad fields of the weed can usually be seen from his house and he loves to show to visitors the plants growing in all their luxuriance, or to sit on his piazza and call attention to their waving leaves and graceful showy tops. Few tobacco-growers can discuss the relative merits of the numerous varieties like the Connecticut planter, and he is wellacquainted not only with the various kinds grown in his own country but also with those of others. Indeed you may often see growing in his garden specimens of Cuban, Brazil or Latakia tobacco; such is his love for all that pertains to this great tropical plant. He considers it one of the greatest of all the vegetable products and never tires of lauding the plant and its use. He sincerely hates all anti-tobaccoites and has a supreme disgust for the memory of King James I. and all royal foes of the plant. He is, however, a man of large and liberal views and bestows his favors with a princely hand. If fortune frowns he may lessen his crop but never his attachment for the plant. Amid all the cares and perplexities incident to life, he puffs away and as the ashes drop from his cigar meditates upon the probable future of tobacco growers and all users of the weed.

The Connecticut tobacco grower is in all respects a man of genuine refinement and nobility of soul. He is always ready to give information on his particular system of culture, and how he obtains such large and fine crops. He is a good judge of leaf tobacco, and can tell in a moment the quality of his famous variety. He is thoroughly awake to modern improvements, and always willing to try new implements, such as tobacco hangers or transplanters in his sheds or fields. He is just the person one likes to meet, jovial and good-natured; he naturally loves the plant he cultivates and uses it freely; lighting his after-dinner cigar or evening pipe with a gusto that is peculiar to the grower of tobacco everywhere. Indeed he is hardly in a proper frame of mind to converse about tobacco until he lights a cigar.

No other cultivator of the soil gains as many friends as the tobacco-grower. His table is well supplied from the choicest his larder affords and he cheerfully welcomes all to its side. He is the friend of the poor and the companion of the rich. No meanness or low chicanery is his. His attachment for home, friends, and country is as firm and strong as for the plant he cultivates.

Olmsted in his work "The Seaboard Slave States"gives the following description of a Virginia plantation:

Negro Quarters.

"Half an hour after this I arrived at the negro quarters—a little hamlet of ten or twelve small and dilapidated cabins. Just beyond them was a plain farm gate at which several negroes were standing; one of them, a well-made man, with an intelligent countenance and prompt manner, directed me how to find my way to his owner's house. It was still nearly a mile distant; and yet, until I arrived in its immediate vicinity, I saw no cultivated field, and but one clearing."In the edge of this clearing, a number of negroes, male and female, lay stretched out upon the ground near a small smoking charcoal pit. Their master afterwards informed me that they were burning charcoal for the plantation blacksmith, using the time allowed them for holidays—from Christmas to New Years—to earn a little money for themselves in this way. He paid them by the bushel for it. When I said that I supposed he allowed them to take what wood they chose for this purpose, he replied that he had five hundred acres covered with wood, which he would be very glad to have any one burn, or clear off in any way. Cannot some Yankee contrive a method of concentrating some of the valuable properties of this old field pine, so that they may be profitably brought into use in more cultivated regions? Charcoal is now brought from Virginia; but when made from pine it is not very valuable, and will only bear transportation from the banks of the navigable rivers whence itcan be shipped, at one movement to New York. Turpentine does not flow in sufficient quantity from this variety of the pine to be profitably collected, and for lumber it is of very small value.

"In the edge of this clearing, a number of negroes, male and female, lay stretched out upon the ground near a small smoking charcoal pit. Their master afterwards informed me that they were burning charcoal for the plantation blacksmith, using the time allowed them for holidays—from Christmas to New Years—to earn a little money for themselves in this way. He paid them by the bushel for it. When I said that I supposed he allowed them to take what wood they chose for this purpose, he replied that he had five hundred acres covered with wood, which he would be very glad to have any one burn, or clear off in any way. Cannot some Yankee contrive a method of concentrating some of the valuable properties of this old field pine, so that they may be profitably brought into use in more cultivated regions? Charcoal is now brought from Virginia; but when made from pine it is not very valuable, and will only bear transportation from the banks of the navigable rivers whence itcan be shipped, at one movement to New York. Turpentine does not flow in sufficient quantity from this variety of the pine to be profitably collected, and for lumber it is of very small value.

The Planter's Home.

"Mr. W.'s house was an old family mansion, which he had himself remodeled in the Grecian style, and furnished with a large wooden portico. An oak forest had originally occupied the ground where it stood; but this having been cleared and the soil worn out in cultivation by the previous proprietors, pine woods now surrounded it in every direction; a square of a few acres only being kept clear immediately about it. A number of the old oaks still stood in the rear of the house, and, until Mr. W. commenced his improvements, there had been some in its front. These, however, he had cut away, as interfering with the symmetry of his grounds, and in place of them had ailanthus trees in parallel rows."On three sides of the outer part of the cleared square there was a row of large and comfortable-looking negro quarters, stables, tobacco-houses, and other offices, built of logs. Mr. W. was one of the few large planters, of his vicinity, who still made the culture of tobacco their principalbusiness. He said there was a general prejudice against tobacco, in all the tide water regions of the State, because it was through the culture of tobacco that the once fertile soil had been impoverished; but he did not believe that, at the present value of negroes, their labor could be applied to the culture of grain with any profit, except under peculiarly favorable circumstances. Possibly the use of guano might make wheat a paying crop, but he still doubted. He had not used it, himself. Tobacco required fresh land, and was rapidly exhausting, but it returned more money, for the labor used upon it, than anything else; enough more, in his opinion to pay for the wearing out of the land. If he was well paid for it, he did not know why he should not wear out his land. His tobacco-fields were nearly all in a distant and lower part of his plantation; land which had been neglected before his time, in a great measure, because it had been sometimes flooded, and was, much of the year, too wet for cultivation. He was draining and clearing it, and it now brought good crops. He had had an Irish gang draining for him, by contract. He thought a negro could do twice as much work in a day as an Irishman. He had not stood over them and seen them at work, but judged entirely from the amount they accomplished: he thought a good gang of negroes would have got on twice as fast. He was sure they must have 'trifled' a great deal, or they would have accomplished more than they had. He complained much of their sprees and quarrels. I asked why he should employ Irishmen, in preference to doing the work with his own hands. It's dangerous work, (unhealthy!) and a negro's life is too valuable to be risked at it. If a negro dies it's a considerable loss, you know.' He afterwards said that his negroes never worked so hard as to tire themselves—always were lively, and ready to go off on a frolic at night. He did not think they ever did half a fair day's work. They could not be made to work hard: they never would lay out their strength freely, and it was impossible to make them do it. This is just what I have thought when I have seen slaves at work—they seem to go through the motions of labor without putting strength into them. They keep their powers in reserve for their own use at night, perhaps."Mr. W. also said that he cultivated only the coarser and lower-priced sorts of tobacco, because the finer sorts required more pains-taking and discretion than it was possible to make a large gang of negroes use. 'You can make a nigger work,' be said, 'but you cannot make him think.'"

"On three sides of the outer part of the cleared square there was a row of large and comfortable-looking negro quarters, stables, tobacco-houses, and other offices, built of logs. Mr. W. was one of the few large planters, of his vicinity, who still made the culture of tobacco their principalbusiness. He said there was a general prejudice against tobacco, in all the tide water regions of the State, because it was through the culture of tobacco that the once fertile soil had been impoverished; but he did not believe that, at the present value of negroes, their labor could be applied to the culture of grain with any profit, except under peculiarly favorable circumstances. Possibly the use of guano might make wheat a paying crop, but he still doubted. He had not used it, himself. Tobacco required fresh land, and was rapidly exhausting, but it returned more money, for the labor used upon it, than anything else; enough more, in his opinion to pay for the wearing out of the land. If he was well paid for it, he did not know why he should not wear out his land. His tobacco-fields were nearly all in a distant and lower part of his plantation; land which had been neglected before his time, in a great measure, because it had been sometimes flooded, and was, much of the year, too wet for cultivation. He was draining and clearing it, and it now brought good crops. He had had an Irish gang draining for him, by contract. He thought a negro could do twice as much work in a day as an Irishman. He had not stood over them and seen them at work, but judged entirely from the amount they accomplished: he thought a good gang of negroes would have got on twice as fast. He was sure they must have 'trifled' a great deal, or they would have accomplished more than they had. He complained much of their sprees and quarrels. I asked why he should employ Irishmen, in preference to doing the work with his own hands. It's dangerous work, (unhealthy!) and a negro's life is too valuable to be risked at it. If a negro dies it's a considerable loss, you know.' He afterwards said that his negroes never worked so hard as to tire themselves—always were lively, and ready to go off on a frolic at night. He did not think they ever did half a fair day's work. They could not be made to work hard: they never would lay out their strength freely, and it was impossible to make them do it. This is just what I have thought when I have seen slaves at work—they seem to go through the motions of labor without putting strength into them. They keep their powers in reserve for their own use at night, perhaps.

"Mr. W. also said that he cultivated only the coarser and lower-priced sorts of tobacco, because the finer sorts required more pains-taking and discretion than it was possible to make a large gang of negroes use. 'You can make a nigger work,' be said, 'but you cannot make him think.'"

In speaking of the early tobacco culture of Virginia, he says:—

The light, rich mould resting on the sandy soil of Eastern Virginia was exactly suited to the cultivation of tobacco, and no better climate for this plant was to be found on the globe. This had just been sufficiently proved, and a suitable method of culture learned experimentally, when the land was offered to individual proprietors by the king, (James I.) Very little else was to be obtained from the soil which would be of value to send to Europe, without an application to it of a higher degree of art than the slaves, or stupid, careless servants of the proprietors could readily be forced to use. Although tobacco had been introduced into England but a few years, an enormous number of persons had initiated themselves in the appreciation of its mysterious value."The king, having taken a violent prejudice against it, though he saw no harm in the distillation of grain, had forbidden that it should be cultivated in England. Virginia, therefore, had every advantage to supply the demand. Merchants and the super-cargoes of ships, arriving with slaves from Africa, or manufactured goods, spirits, or other luxuries from England, very gladly bartered them with the planters for tobacco, but for nothing else. Tobacco, therefore, stood for money, and the passion for raising it, to the exclusion of everything else, became a mania, like the 'California fever' of 1849."The culture being once established, there were many reasons growing out of the social structure of the colony, which, for more than a century, kept the industry of the Virginians confined to this one staple. These reasons were chiefly the difficulty of breaking the slaves, or training the bond-servants to new methods of labor, the want of enterprise or ingenuity of the proprietors to contrive other profitable occupations for them, and the difficulty or expense of distributing the guard or oversight, without which it was impossible to get any work done at all, if the laborers were separated, or worked in any other way than side by side, in gangs, as in the tobacco-fields."Owing to these causes the planters kept on raising tobacco with hardly sufficient intermission to provide sustenance, though often, by reason of the excessive quantity raised, scarcely anything could be got for it. Tobacco is not now considered peculiarly and excessively exhaustive; in a judicious rotation, especially as a preparation for wheat, it is anadmirable fallow crop, and, under a scientific system of agriculture, it is grown with no continued detriment to the soil. But in Virginia it was grown without interruption or alternation, and the plantations rapidly deteriorated in fertility. As they did so, the crops grew smaller in proportion to the labor expended upon them; yet, from the continued importation of laborers, the total crops of the colony increased annually, and the market value fell proportionately to the better supply."With smaller return for labor and lower prices, the planters soon found themselves bankrupt, instead of nabobs. How could they help themselves? Only by forcing the merchants to pay them higher prices. But how to do that, when every planter had his crop pledged in advance, and was obliged to hurry it off at any price he could get for it, in order to pay for his food, and drink, and clothing, and to keep his head above water at credit for the following year. The crop supplied more tobacco than was needed, but no one man would cease to plant it, or lessen his crop for the general good. Then it was agreed all men must be made to do so, and the colonial legislature was called upon to make them."Acts were accordingly passed to prevent any planter from cultivating more than a certain number of plants to each hand he employed in labor, and prescribing the number of leaves which might be permitted to ripen upon each plant permitted to be grown. An inspection of all tobacco, after it had been prepared for market, was decreed, and the inspectors were bound by oath, after having rejected all of inferior quality, to divide the good into two equal parts, and then to burn and destroy one of them. Thus, it was expected the quantity of tobacco offered for sale would be so small that merchants would be glad to pay better prices for it, and the planters would be relieved of their embarrassment."

"The king, having taken a violent prejudice against it, though he saw no harm in the distillation of grain, had forbidden that it should be cultivated in England. Virginia, therefore, had every advantage to supply the demand. Merchants and the super-cargoes of ships, arriving with slaves from Africa, or manufactured goods, spirits, or other luxuries from England, very gladly bartered them with the planters for tobacco, but for nothing else. Tobacco, therefore, stood for money, and the passion for raising it, to the exclusion of everything else, became a mania, like the 'California fever' of 1849.

"The culture being once established, there were many reasons growing out of the social structure of the colony, which, for more than a century, kept the industry of the Virginians confined to this one staple. These reasons were chiefly the difficulty of breaking the slaves, or training the bond-servants to new methods of labor, the want of enterprise or ingenuity of the proprietors to contrive other profitable occupations for them, and the difficulty or expense of distributing the guard or oversight, without which it was impossible to get any work done at all, if the laborers were separated, or worked in any other way than side by side, in gangs, as in the tobacco-fields.

"Owing to these causes the planters kept on raising tobacco with hardly sufficient intermission to provide sustenance, though often, by reason of the excessive quantity raised, scarcely anything could be got for it. Tobacco is not now considered peculiarly and excessively exhaustive; in a judicious rotation, especially as a preparation for wheat, it is anadmirable fallow crop, and, under a scientific system of agriculture, it is grown with no continued detriment to the soil. But in Virginia it was grown without interruption or alternation, and the plantations rapidly deteriorated in fertility. As they did so, the crops grew smaller in proportion to the labor expended upon them; yet, from the continued importation of laborers, the total crops of the colony increased annually, and the market value fell proportionately to the better supply.

"With smaller return for labor and lower prices, the planters soon found themselves bankrupt, instead of nabobs. How could they help themselves? Only by forcing the merchants to pay them higher prices. But how to do that, when every planter had his crop pledged in advance, and was obliged to hurry it off at any price he could get for it, in order to pay for his food, and drink, and clothing, and to keep his head above water at credit for the following year. The crop supplied more tobacco than was needed, but no one man would cease to plant it, or lessen his crop for the general good. Then it was agreed all men must be made to do so, and the colonial legislature was called upon to make them.

"Acts were accordingly passed to prevent any planter from cultivating more than a certain number of plants to each hand he employed in labor, and prescribing the number of leaves which might be permitted to ripen upon each plant permitted to be grown. An inspection of all tobacco, after it had been prepared for market, was decreed, and the inspectors were bound by oath, after having rejected all of inferior quality, to divide the good into two equal parts, and then to burn and destroy one of them. Thus, it was expected the quantity of tobacco offered for sale would be so small that merchants would be glad to pay better prices for it, and the planters would be relieved of their embarrassment."

Mrs. M. P. Handy gives the following interesting sketch, entitled "On the Tobacco Plantation":—

"Burning the Patch."

"Riding through Southside, Virginia, any warm, bright winter's day after Christmas, the stranger may be startled to see a dense column of smoke rising from the forest beyond. He anxiously inquires of the first person he meets—probably a negro—if the woods are on fire. Cuffee shows his white teeth in a grin that is half amusement, half contempt, as he answers: 'No, sar, deys jis burnin' a plant-patch.' For this is the first step in tobacco-culture."A sunny, sheltered spot on the southern slope of a hill is selected, one protected from northern winds by the surrounding forest, but open to the sun in front, and here the hot-bed for the reception of the seed is prepared. All growth is felled within the area needed, large dead logs are dragged and heaped on the ground as for a holocaust, the whole ignited, and the fire kept up until nothing is left of the immense wood-heap but circles of the smoldering ashes. These are afterward carefully plowed in; the soil, fertilized still further, if need be, is harrowed and prepared as though for a garden-bed, and the small brown seed sown, from which is to spring the most widely-used of man's useless luxuries. Later, when the spring fairly opens, and the young plants in this primitive hot-bed are large and strong enough to bear transplanting, the Virginian draws them, as the New Englander does his cabbages, and plants them in like manner, in hills from two to four feet apart each way. Lucky is he whose plant-bed has escaped the fly, the first enemy of the precious weed. Its attacks are made upon it in the first stage of its existence, and are more fatal, because less easily prevented, than those of the tobacco-worm, that scourge,par excellence, of the tobacco crop. Farmers often lose their entire stock of plants, and are forced to send miles to beg or buy of a more fortunate planter. Freshly-cleared land—'new ground,' as the negroes call it—makes the best tobacco-field, and onthis and the rich lowlands throughout Southside is raised the staple known through the world as James River tobacco."On this crop the planter lavishes his choicest fertilizers; for the ranker the growth, the longer and larger the leaf, the greater is the value thereof, though the manufacturers complain bitterly of the free use of guano, which, they say, destroys the resinous gum on which the value of the leaf depends. Once set, the young plant must contend, not only with the ordinary risk of transplanting, but the cut-worm is now to be dreaded. Working underground, it severs the stem just above the root, and the first intimation of its presence is the prone and drooping plant. For this there is no remedy, except to plant and replant, until the tobacco itself kills the worm. In one instance, which came under our observation, a single field was replanted six times before the planter succeeded in getting 'a good stand,' as they call it on the plantations; but this was an extreme case.

"A sunny, sheltered spot on the southern slope of a hill is selected, one protected from northern winds by the surrounding forest, but open to the sun in front, and here the hot-bed for the reception of the seed is prepared. All growth is felled within the area needed, large dead logs are dragged and heaped on the ground as for a holocaust, the whole ignited, and the fire kept up until nothing is left of the immense wood-heap but circles of the smoldering ashes. These are afterward carefully plowed in; the soil, fertilized still further, if need be, is harrowed and prepared as though for a garden-bed, and the small brown seed sown, from which is to spring the most widely-used of man's useless luxuries. Later, when the spring fairly opens, and the young plants in this primitive hot-bed are large and strong enough to bear transplanting, the Virginian draws them, as the New Englander does his cabbages, and plants them in like manner, in hills from two to four feet apart each way. Lucky is he whose plant-bed has escaped the fly, the first enemy of the precious weed. Its attacks are made upon it in the first stage of its existence, and are more fatal, because less easily prevented, than those of the tobacco-worm, that scourge,par excellence, of the tobacco crop. Farmers often lose their entire stock of plants, and are forced to send miles to beg or buy of a more fortunate planter. Freshly-cleared land—'new ground,' as the negroes call it—makes the best tobacco-field, and onthis and the rich lowlands throughout Southside is raised the staple known through the world as James River tobacco.

"On this crop the planter lavishes his choicest fertilizers; for the ranker the growth, the longer and larger the leaf, the greater is the value thereof, though the manufacturers complain bitterly of the free use of guano, which, they say, destroys the resinous gum on which the value of the leaf depends. Once set, the young plant must contend, not only with the ordinary risk of transplanting, but the cut-worm is now to be dreaded. Working underground, it severs the stem just above the root, and the first intimation of its presence is the prone and drooping plant. For this there is no remedy, except to plant and replant, until the tobacco itself kills the worm. In one instance, which came under our observation, a single field was replanted six times before the planter succeeded in getting 'a good stand,' as they call it on the plantations; but this was an extreme case.

Stringing the Primings.

"When the plants are fairly started in their growth, the planter tops and primes them, processes performed, the first by pinching off the top bud, which would else run to seed, and the second by removing the lower leaves of each plant, leaving bare a space of some inches near the ground, and retaining from six to a dozen stout, well-formed leaves on each stem, according to the promise of the soil and season, and these leaves form the crop. The rejected lower leaves or primings, in the days of slavery, formed one of the mistress' perquisites and were carefully collected by the'house-gang,' as the force was styled, strung on small sharp sticks like exaggerated meat-skewers, and cured, first in the sun, afterwards in the barn, often placing a pretty penny in her private purse. Now when all labor must be paid for in money, they are not worth collecting, and, except when some thrifty freedman has a large family which he wishes to turn to account, are left to wither where they fall."There is absolutely no rest on a large tobacco plantation, one step following another in the cultivation of the troublesome weed—the last year's crop is rarely shipped to market before the seed must be sown for the next—and planting and replanting, topping and priming, suckering and worming, crowd on each other through all the summer months. Withal the ground must be rigidly kept free from grass and weeds, and after the plants have attained any size this must be done by hoe; horse and plow would break and bruise the brittle leaves."'Suckering' is performed by removing every leaf-bud which the plant throws out after the priming (and topping), thus retaining all its sap and strength for the development of the leaves already formed, and this must be done again and again through the whole season. Worming is still more tedious and unremitting. In the animal kingdom there are three creatures, and three only, to whom tobacco is not poisonous—man, a goat found among the Andes, and the tobacco-worm. This last is a long, smooth-skinned worm, its body formed of successive knobs or rings, furnished each with a pair of legs, large prominent eyes, and is in color as green as the leaf upon which it feeds. It is found only on the under side of the leaves, every one of which must be carefully lifted and examined for its presence. Women make better wormers than men, probably because they are more patient and painstaking. When caught the worm is pulled apart between the thumb and finger, for crushing it in the soft mold of the carefully cultivated fields is impossible. Carelessness in worming was an unpardonable offence in the days of slavery, and was frequently punished with great severity. An occasional penalty on some plantations—very few, in justice to Virginia planters be it said—was to compel the delinquent wormer to bite in two the disgusting worm discovered in his or her row by the lynx-eyed overseer. Valuable coadjutors in this work are the housewife's flock of turkeys, which are allowed the range of the tobacco lots near the house, and which destroy the worms by scores. Themoth, whose egg produces these larvæ, is a large white miller of unusual size and prolificness. Liberal and kind masters would frequently offer the negro children a reward for every miller captured, and many were the pennies won in this way. One of these insects, placed one evening under an inverted tumbler, was found next morning to have deposited over two hundred eggs on the glass.

"There is absolutely no rest on a large tobacco plantation, one step following another in the cultivation of the troublesome weed—the last year's crop is rarely shipped to market before the seed must be sown for the next—and planting and replanting, topping and priming, suckering and worming, crowd on each other through all the summer months. Withal the ground must be rigidly kept free from grass and weeds, and after the plants have attained any size this must be done by hoe; horse and plow would break and bruise the brittle leaves.

"'Suckering' is performed by removing every leaf-bud which the plant throws out after the priming (and topping), thus retaining all its sap and strength for the development of the leaves already formed, and this must be done again and again through the whole season. Worming is still more tedious and unremitting. In the animal kingdom there are three creatures, and three only, to whom tobacco is not poisonous—man, a goat found among the Andes, and the tobacco-worm. This last is a long, smooth-skinned worm, its body formed of successive knobs or rings, furnished each with a pair of legs, large prominent eyes, and is in color as green as the leaf upon which it feeds. It is found only on the under side of the leaves, every one of which must be carefully lifted and examined for its presence. Women make better wormers than men, probably because they are more patient and painstaking. When caught the worm is pulled apart between the thumb and finger, for crushing it in the soft mold of the carefully cultivated fields is impossible. Carelessness in worming was an unpardonable offence in the days of slavery, and was frequently punished with great severity. An occasional penalty on some plantations—very few, in justice to Virginia planters be it said—was to compel the delinquent wormer to bite in two the disgusting worm discovered in his or her row by the lynx-eyed overseer. Valuable coadjutors in this work are the housewife's flock of turkeys, which are allowed the range of the tobacco lots near the house, and which destroy the worms by scores. Themoth, whose egg produces these larvæ, is a large white miller of unusual size and prolificness. Liberal and kind masters would frequently offer the negro children a reward for every miller captured, and many were the pennies won in this way. One of these insects, placed one evening under an inverted tumbler, was found next morning to have deposited over two hundred eggs on the glass.

Worming.

"As the plant matures the leaves grow heavy, and, thick with gum, droop gracefully over from the plant. Then as they ripen, one by one the plants are cut, some inches below the first leaves, with short stout knives,—scythe or reaper is useless here,—and hung, heads down, on scaffolds, in the open air, till ready to be taken to the barn. A Virginia tobacco-barn is totally unlike any other building under the sun. Square as to the ground plan, its height is usually twice its width and length. In the center of the bare earthen floor is the trench for firing; around the sides runs a raised platform for placing the leaves in bulk; and, commencing at a safe distance from the fire, up to the top of the tall building, reach beams stretching across for the reception of the tobacco-sticks, thick pine laths, from which are suspended the heavy plants. Safely housed and beyond all danger of the frost, whose slightest touch is sufficient to blacken and destroy it, the crop is now ready for firing, and through the late autumn days blue clouds of smoke hover over and around the steep roofs of the tall tobacco-barns. A strangermight suppose the buildings on fire, but not a blaze is within, the object here, as in bacon-curing, beingsmoke, notfire."For this the old field-pine is eschewed, and the planter draws on his stock of oak and hickory-trees. Many use sassafras and sweet gum in preference to all other woods for this purpose, under the impression that they improve the flavor of the tobacco-leaf. When the leaves, fully cured, have taken the rich brown hue of the tobacco of commerce, so unlike the deep green of the growing plant that a person familiar with the one would never recognize the other as the same plant, the planter must fold his hands and wait until they are in condition for what is technically known as striking, i. e., taking down from the rafters on which they are suspended. Touch the tobacco when too dry and it crumbles, disturb it when too high or damp, and its value for shipping is materially lessened, while if handled in too cold weather it becomes harsh. But there comes a mild damp spell, and the watchful planter seizing the right moment, since tobacco, like time and tide, waits for no man, musters all the force he can command for the work of stripping and stemming. This done, the leaves are sorted and tied in bundles, several being held in one hand, while around the stalk-end of the cluster is wrapped another leaf, the loose end of which is tucked through the center of the bundle. Great care is taken in this operation not to break the leaf, and oil or lard is freely used in the work. During this process the crop is divided into the various grades of commerce from 'long bright' leaf to 'lugs' the lowest grade known to manufacturers. These last are not packed into hogsheads, but are sent loose, and sold without the trouble of prizing, in the nearest market-town."Shades imperceptible to a novice, serve to determine the value of the leaf. As it varies in color, texture, and length, so fluctuates its market price, and at least half the battle lies in the manner in which the crop has been handled in curing. From the mountainous counties of South-western Virginia, Franklin, Henry, and Patrick, comes all the rarest and the most valuable tobacco, 'fancy wrappers' but these crops are smaller in proportion to those raised along the lowlands of the rivers. This tobacco is much lighter in color, much softer in texture, than the ordinary staple, and is frequently as soft and fine as silk. Some years ago a bonnet made of this tobacco was exhibited at the Border Agricultural Fair, and had somewhat the appearance of brown silk. Only one such plant have I ever seen grown in Southside, and that, abright golden brown, and nearly two feet in length, was carefully preserved for show on the parlor-mantel of the planter who raised it."After tying, the bundles are placed in bulk, and when again 'in order,' are 'prized' or packed into the hogsheads,—no smoothly-planed and iron-hooped cask, by the way, but huge pine structures very roughly made. The old machine for prizing was a primitive affair, the upright beam through which ran another at right angles, turning slightly on a pivot, heavily weighted at one end, and used as a lever for compressing the brown mass into the hogsheads. Now, most well-to-do planters own a tobacco straightener and screw-press, inventions which materially lessen the manual labor of preparing the crop for market. Each hogshead is branded with the name of the owner, and thus shipped to his commission-merchant, when the hogshead is 'broken' by tearing off a stave, thus exposing the strata of the bulk to view. Of late years some planters have been guilty of 'nesting,' or placing prime leaf around the outer part and an inferior article in the center of the hogshead."At a tobacco mart in Southside, occurred perhaps the only instance of negro-selling since the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau. At every town is a huge platform scale for weighing wagon and load, deducting the weight of the former from the united weight of both to find the quantity of tobacco offered for sale. A small planter has brought a lot of loose tobacco to market, which, being sold, was weighed in this manner, and for which the purchaser was about to pay, when a bystander quietly remarked, 'You forgot to weigh the nigger.' An explanation followed, and the tobacco, re-weighed, was found short 158 lbs., or the exact weight of the colored driver, who had, unobserved, been standing on the scales behind the cart while the first weighing took place."Thirty years or more ago—before the Danville and Southside Railroads were built—the tobacco was principally carried to market on flat-boats, and the refrain to a favorite negro song was:—

"For this the old field-pine is eschewed, and the planter draws on his stock of oak and hickory-trees. Many use sassafras and sweet gum in preference to all other woods for this purpose, under the impression that they improve the flavor of the tobacco-leaf. When the leaves, fully cured, have taken the rich brown hue of the tobacco of commerce, so unlike the deep green of the growing plant that a person familiar with the one would never recognize the other as the same plant, the planter must fold his hands and wait until they are in condition for what is technically known as striking, i. e., taking down from the rafters on which they are suspended. Touch the tobacco when too dry and it crumbles, disturb it when too high or damp, and its value for shipping is materially lessened, while if handled in too cold weather it becomes harsh. But there comes a mild damp spell, and the watchful planter seizing the right moment, since tobacco, like time and tide, waits for no man, musters all the force he can command for the work of stripping and stemming. This done, the leaves are sorted and tied in bundles, several being held in one hand, while around the stalk-end of the cluster is wrapped another leaf, the loose end of which is tucked through the center of the bundle. Great care is taken in this operation not to break the leaf, and oil or lard is freely used in the work. During this process the crop is divided into the various grades of commerce from 'long bright' leaf to 'lugs' the lowest grade known to manufacturers. These last are not packed into hogsheads, but are sent loose, and sold without the trouble of prizing, in the nearest market-town.

"Shades imperceptible to a novice, serve to determine the value of the leaf. As it varies in color, texture, and length, so fluctuates its market price, and at least half the battle lies in the manner in which the crop has been handled in curing. From the mountainous counties of South-western Virginia, Franklin, Henry, and Patrick, comes all the rarest and the most valuable tobacco, 'fancy wrappers' but these crops are smaller in proportion to those raised along the lowlands of the rivers. This tobacco is much lighter in color, much softer in texture, than the ordinary staple, and is frequently as soft and fine as silk. Some years ago a bonnet made of this tobacco was exhibited at the Border Agricultural Fair, and had somewhat the appearance of brown silk. Only one such plant have I ever seen grown in Southside, and that, abright golden brown, and nearly two feet in length, was carefully preserved for show on the parlor-mantel of the planter who raised it.

"After tying, the bundles are placed in bulk, and when again 'in order,' are 'prized' or packed into the hogsheads,—no smoothly-planed and iron-hooped cask, by the way, but huge pine structures very roughly made. The old machine for prizing was a primitive affair, the upright beam through which ran another at right angles, turning slightly on a pivot, heavily weighted at one end, and used as a lever for compressing the brown mass into the hogsheads. Now, most well-to-do planters own a tobacco straightener and screw-press, inventions which materially lessen the manual labor of preparing the crop for market. Each hogshead is branded with the name of the owner, and thus shipped to his commission-merchant, when the hogshead is 'broken' by tearing off a stave, thus exposing the strata of the bulk to view. Of late years some planters have been guilty of 'nesting,' or placing prime leaf around the outer part and an inferior article in the center of the hogshead.

"At a tobacco mart in Southside, occurred perhaps the only instance of negro-selling since the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau. At every town is a huge platform scale for weighing wagon and load, deducting the weight of the former from the united weight of both to find the quantity of tobacco offered for sale. A small planter has brought a lot of loose tobacco to market, which, being sold, was weighed in this manner, and for which the purchaser was about to pay, when a bystander quietly remarked, 'You forgot to weigh the nigger.' An explanation followed, and the tobacco, re-weighed, was found short 158 lbs., or the exact weight of the colored driver, who had, unobserved, been standing on the scales behind the cart while the first weighing took place.

"Thirty years or more ago—before the Danville and Southside Railroads were built—the tobacco was principally carried to market on flat-boats, and the refrain to a favorite negro song was:—

"'Oh, I'm gwine down to Town!An' I'm gwine down to Town!I'm gwine down to Richmond TownTo cayr my 'bacca down!'

"Then all along the rivers, at every landing, was a tobacco warehouse, the ruins of some of which may still be seen.With no crop has the Emancipation Act interfered so much as with this, and the old tobacco planters will tell you with a sigh that tobacco no longer yields them the profits it once did: the manufacturers are the only people who make fortunes on it now-a-days; $12 per hundred is the lowest price which pays for the raising, and few crops average that now. Still every farmer essays its culture, every freedman has his email tobacco patch by his cabin door, and the Indian weed is still the great staple of Eastern Virginia."

The first planters of tobacco at the West were the Ohioans, who began its culture about fifty years ago. From the first they have taken much interest in the plant, and as the result of many experiments not only produce seed leaf, but the finest cutting leaf grown in this country. The Ohio tobacco growers have shown a spirit of enterprise in this direction that is as commendable as it is rare. While they have not tested the great tropical varieties like their brother tobacco growers of Connecticut, they have succeeded in producing a leaf for cutting that is the admiration of the world. At first their experiments were unsuccessful, and the early growers were ridiculed for entertaining the belief that tobacco could be grown at the West. Yet despite all objections and seeming failures, the growers continued its cultivation until it has become one of the great products of the State. Of late the Ohio growers have demonstrated that their soil is better adapted for the finer grades of cutting leaf, than for seed leaf or even the more common "cinnamon blotch."

The soil is rich, and an experience of half a century has at length given them a thorough knowledge of the plant and the most successful modes of cultivation. In appearance an Ohio tobacco field resembles those of the Connecticut valley—the leaf is large, and though coarser, cures down a dark rich brown, like "cinnamon blotch," or a light yellow, the color of the famous "white tobacco." The Ohio growers have taken much pains with the Ohio broad leaf, and have produced a seed leaf tobacco that in many respects is a superior wrapper for cigars. While it does not possess the fine texture of Connecticut seed leaf it still has many good qualities, and with the careful culture given it will doubtlessbecome still finer as a leaf tobacco, for wrapping cigars. But it is in the production of cutting leaf that the Ohio growers take rank, and ere long will supply the vast demand made upon them for their great cutting variety.

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