4 PRESENT STATUS OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY. 



DEVELOPMENT AND SPECIALIZATION OF THE TOBACCO 



INDUSTRY. 



The culture of tobacco as a commercial crop began in Virginia in 

 1612 and soon became so profitable that food crops were neglected 

 and drastic regulations were required to control the output. The 

 industry promptly spread into Maryland, and when Kentucky was 

 settled tobacco at once became the principal commodity in that 

 territory, whence it was carried into Tennessee and Missouri. To- 

 bacco culture was early introduced into North Carolina from Virginia, 

 and about 1850 in the former State it received a great impetus from 

 the discovery of a new process of curing by means of artificial heat. 

 About 1890 this new phase of the industry became commercially 

 important in eastern South Carolina. 



The New England colonists also early began the culture of the 

 crop, but it did not become of much commercial importance until 

 about the middle of the last century. At this time the value of the 

 tobacco produced in that section for the manufacture of cigars began 

 to be recognized, and the industry became exceedingly profitable. 

 From New England the growing of these cigar types was extended 

 into Pennsjdvania and New York and thence into Ohio and Wiscon- 

 sin. About 1890 the production of cigar tobaccos from Cuban and 

 Sumatran seed began to assume importance in Florida and southern 

 Georgia. 



The marked eft'ects of soil and climatic conditions on the character 

 of the tobacco produced were early recognized, and these influences, 

 together with improvements in methods of growing and handling, 

 have brought about important economic readjustments, resulting 

 finally in a highly specialized industry. The first tobacco produced 

 in Virginia naturally found a market in the mother country, England, 

 while the western product went to New Orleans and thence into 

 France and other European countries. The discovery of distinc- 

 tively new types, such as Burley, and of new methods of production, 

 as with the yellow or flue-cured tobacco of Virgmia and the Carolinas, 

 has modified to some extent the demands of foreign markets, but, 

 nevertheless, much the same territory has continued for many gen- 

 erations to supply the principal needs for export purposes. The 

 demands for domestic consumption, as chewing and smoking tobaccos, 

 have been modified to a greater extent, perhaps, by these factors, but 

 here again present requirements are firmly established and can be 

 changed only under strong influences. 



The requirements for cigar tobacco are very exacting, differing 

 essentially from those for other types of leaf; consequently the pro- 

 duction of such tobacco, in some of its phases, necessitates culture 

 of a veiy intensive character. Certain foreign types have come to 



LCir. 48] 



