PRESENT STATUS OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY. 9 



oTower aro little, if any, above those for most other maniifactiiriui^ 

 and export tyi)es. 



The liner fjrades are used as wrappers on manufactured plug; and 

 command relatively high prices. To produce a high-grade wrai)per 

 requires just the right sort of soil and favorable seasons combined with 

 skill and good judgment on the part of the grower. The yield in the 

 old belt averages 700 to 800 pounds to the acre, while in the new belt, 

 especially in South Carolina, the average yield is about 100 ])ounds 

 more to the acre. 



PERIQUE. 



This product is grown in St. James Parish, La., on a small scale, 

 and the method of handling is unique. It is highly aromatic, and is 

 used mostly for blending with other smoking types. Each grower 

 manufactures his own product into packages known as "carrottes," 

 and the entire output is marketed through one concern. " The yield 

 averages about 450 pounds to the acre. 



PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY AS REGARDS SUPPLY AND 



DEMAND. 



It has been pomted out that the tobacco industry has become 

 highly specialized in that each of the recognized tobacco-growing 

 districts produces a type of leaf known by the trade to possess definite 

 qualities which adapt it to certain specific purposes. These various 

 types are only interchangeable within narrow limits. For exami)le, 

 the foreign consumer has been accustomed for generations to the 

 heavy, fire-cured type which would be unacceptable to the consumer 

 of this country, while the reverse would be true with our manufac- 

 turmg and cigar types. 



Thus any given variety of tobacco or the product of any given 

 locality in order to prove successful must secure a standing before the 

 trade on its own merits. In the majority of cases this is likely to 

 prove an insurmountable difficulty for a new variety or the product 

 of a new locality. On the other hand, there is always opportunity 

 for the knprovement in quality and yield of the recognized standard 

 types of leaf. 



Another important factor in the question of supply and demand is 

 the fact that the manufacturer of an established line of goods must 

 be reasonably assured of an adequate and permanent source of supply 

 of known quality. 



It is apparent, therefore, that there is a permanent demand for 

 more or less defmite amounts of certain well-established tyi>es of 

 tobacco, but as soon as the supply of any of these types greatly 

 exceeds this demand, prices at once fall to a point where its production 

 becomes unprofitable. In the few cases in which the discovery of 



[Cir. 48] 



