130 



As the Havana tobaccos command the bigliest price, 

 growers everywhere attempt to introduce and cultivate them. 

 The difficulty in growing these varieties is, they speedily 

 degenerate if the conditions are not favorable. To prevent 

 this deterioration it is important to import and use Cuban 

 seed every one or two years. Virginia tobacco is the most 

 favored in temporate climates, as it does not require such a 

 high temperature, but on account of its botanical character- 

 istics it is not much liked by cigar or cut tobacco manufac- 

 turers. A high price is generally commanded, no matter of 

 what variety, which possesses either a light mahogany, 

 cinnamon, or golden color, and fine aroma, with thin ribs far 

 apart and even. The wider the leaf and the less they are 

 worm eaten, or torn, the greater the number of wrappers 

 which can be cut from a pound for making cigars, conse- 

 quently manufacturers will pay more for grades possessing 

 these qualities than for others. 



It may be said of the varieties most generally grown in 

 America, that the Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland are em- 

 ployed for chewing, pipe and cigarette smoking, while the 

 Connecticut seed leaf and Havana are most in use for fillers 

 and wrappers in the manufacture of cigars. 



During the last half century the plant has been developed 

 to a greater extent than during the three hundred years 

 succeeding its discovery. Its cultivation and management 

 have been reduced to an approach to an exact science^ and 

 the quality of the leaf is, in a great measure, within the con- 

 trol of the growers of the plant ; until quite recently it was 

 supposed that the varieties that grew in the tropics could 

 not be cultivated with success in the temperate regions, but 

 recent experiments have demonstrated the fact that the to- 

 bacco of Cuba can be grown with success in many parts of 

 the United States. The tobacco raised in the tropics is the 

 finest in fiavor, while the more temperate regions produce 

 the finest and best colored leaf. 



The tobacco of the tropics, as to the uses to which it is 

 put, is limited, while the tobacco of the more temperate re- 



