182 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



cured tobacco, or 800,800 pounds of baled tobacco, exclusive of trash. 

 The total cost at $;657.17 per acre, the average for last j'ear, will 

 amount to $460,019. The total value of the baled tobacco at $1.20 

 per pound, the average price obtained at the auction, will be .*960,960. 

 The net profit will be $500,941. It is believed, however, that the cost 

 per acre will be considerably less than last year, and tliat the price 

 per pound will be greater. The Department believes that this indus- 

 try has been successfully placed upon a commercial basis, and that 

 there will be a considerable increase in the crop grown next year. 

 We have demonstrated our ability to produce a leaf which is desired 

 by our people and for which about $6,000,000 have annually been 

 expended in fo-reign countries. The demand for this product has 

 always been greater than the supjDly, and prices have been maintained 

 in a remarkable manner. It may seem strange to some that manu- 

 facturers can afford to pay such prices for wrapper leaf, but even at 

 13 a pound for leaf that will wa-ap at the rate of 2 pounds to 1,000 

 cigars, the cost of the wrapper is about six-tentlis of a cent. Even 

 at such prices the leaf can profitably be used on a .5-cent cigar. 

 There is so little waste to the leaf, it yields so well in the manufacture 

 of cigars, the color is so uniform, and the grading is so perfect that 

 manufacturers find it actually cheaper to pay 13 a pound for such 

 leaf than to bu}'- domestic wrappers at an average of 20 cents a pound 

 or selected domestic wrappers at from 50 to 60 cents. 



SUMATRA TOBACCO IN LOCALITIES OTHER THAN CONNECTICUT. 



Considerable interest has been shown, of course, in the possibility 

 of extending the Sumatra tobacco industry to other localities and to 

 other States. It was predicted, as a result of the soil survey of the 

 Lancaster area, Pennsylvania, that the Sumatra tobacco could be 

 successfully grown under shade on the narrow strip of Donegal grav- 

 elly loam bordering the Susquehanna River. Experiments carried on 

 this year by the Pennsylvania experiment station, in cooperation with 

 this Department, in growing Sumatra tobacco under shade on a small 

 tract of about 1 acre, appear to have demonstrated the correctness 

 of this prediction. The crop has been harvested, and, judging from 

 the product in the curing shed, it is of good quality. It is not believed 

 by the Department experts that equally successful results will be 

 attained on other soils in this area. 



In response to demands from one of the principal New York tobacco 

 districts, a soil survey was made this season of the Big Flats area in 

 the Chemung Valley, New York. As a result of this survey, it is not 

 believed by the Department experts that any considerable success will 

 attend the gi-owing of Sumatra tobacco on the soils of that locality, 

 with the exception of a very small area of not exceeding 10 acres, 

 where an experiment has been actually carried on by a gentleman 

 familiar with the soils of the Connecticut Valley, who selected this tract 

 because it represents the type of land that is found in Connecticut. 



A soil survey has also been made of a considerable area in the 

 Janesville area, Wisconsin. Two experiments of growing Sumatra 

 tobacco under shade have been tried there, and the results at the 

 time of harvesting indicate a fair degree of success. The Department 

 does not believe, however, that the product of the soils of the Janes- 

 ville area will approach in quality or in value the product raised in 

 the Connecticut Valley. It is not intended by this to imply that the 

 leaf can not be successfully grown in the Wisconsin area, but from 



