ORIGIN AND SPBEAD. 9 



sweetness and in nicotine, and in those qualities desired 

 in chewing tobacco, but in fineness and delicacy of tex- 

 ture, in strength of tissue, and in glossiness and smooth- 

 ness of surface, far superior to anything that had ever 

 been grown in the South. It proved to be highly valu- 

 able in the manufacture of cigars. Its culture brought 

 great wealth to the planters of the Connecticut valley, 

 especially in the years succeeding the Civil war, which 

 culminated in an era of speculation and extravagance 

 that was closed disastrously by the panic of 1873. 

 Meanwhile, eastern Pennsylvania and central New York 

 State, attracted by the profit in cigar leaf tobacco, em- 

 barked in it upon a constantly increasing scale, followed 

 by the Miami valley in Ohio, and by southern Wiscon- 

 sin, until now more than 

 100,000,000 pounds of to- 

 bacco are grown in these 

 states annually, not all of 

 which may be classed as 

 cigar leaf. 



The industry gradu- FIG - 6 - PREHISTORIC PIPE USED BY 



., -i j? -inivn i THE MOUND BUILDERS IN THE MI8 



ally revived from 1878 to SIS8IPPI VALLEY CENTURIES AGO; 

 1885, when the increasing From Smithsonian Report, 1848. 



importation of wrapper leaf from Sumatra curtailed the 

 market for domestic wrappers. Serious decline followed, 

 with virtual bankruptcy for many planters, until the 

 tariff of 1890 imposed a duty of two dollars per pound 

 on imported wrappers. The domestic cigar leaf indus- 

 try promptly rallied, quantity and quality of crop im- 

 proved, prices advanced, and prosperity seemed to dawn 

 again upon the wrapper-producing sections. Florida's 

 capabilities as a wrapper leaf State were demonstrated, 

 although some excellent tobacco had been grown there 

 prior to the Civil war. Prices declined after the national 

 election in November, 1892, foreshadowing a change in 

 policy ; but with a return to the former method, it is 



