CLASSIFICATION AXD MARKETS. 51 



oils. This sun and air cured tobacco is very popular 

 for chewing, on account of its peculiar richness of flavor 

 and pleasantness of taste. It contains about 3.2? per 

 cent of nicotine, and will absorb, without dripping, 

 about twice its weight in water. 



The most popular and the highest priced brands of 

 tobacco are manufactured from the flue-cured Virginia 

 fillers grown, for the most part, in Henry and Patrick 

 counties, Virginia, but mainly in Henry county. This 

 product is of medium size, brown or mahogany in color, 

 fine in texture, delicate in fiber, oily and elastic. It is 

 usually made from the variety known as the Little Ori- 

 noco, which is peculiar in the irregularity of its veins, or 

 smaller fibers, and the frequent bifurcations of these 

 fibers. 



The best North Carolina Bed fillers, resembling 

 somewhat those grown in Henry county, Va., come from 

 Eockingham, Guilford, Forsyth, Surry, and to a 

 smaller extent from several other counties in the west- 

 ern section. They are flue-cured, of a cherry red in 

 color, with whitish fibers. They are sweet, tough and 

 leathery, but of small leaf and delicate fibers. They are 

 made from thoroughly ripened plants, and while not 

 great absorbers of the sauces with which they are 

 treated in the process of manufacture, yet they are 

 highly popular because of their peculiarly sweet, natural 

 flavor. When the plants are cut before they are ripe, 

 the product is subject to "gray veins," which are highly 

 objectionable, inasmuch as such veins do not disappear, 

 or blacken, when manufactured, and reveal the imma- 

 turity of the product. 



The yellow fillers of Virginia, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, and of east Tennessee, though used, to some 

 extent, in the manufacture of chewing tobacco, are yet 

 wanting in the natural sweetness and toughness of 

 leaf, which are so much to be desired in chewing tobacco. 



