CONSIDERATIONS OF CIGAR LEAF. 387 



cheaper lands of Wisconsin, the cost varies from 5 to 10 

 cents, and may be even less in exceptional instances. 

 Ordinarily, however, the planter considers that he is 

 making very little profit if he gets less than 15 cents 

 per pound through, for the entire crop, if grown in the 

 Connecticut valley ; 12 cents if grown in New York 

 state ; 10 to 14 cents if grown in Pennsylvania ; 8 to 12 

 cents in the Miami valley, and about the latter range of 

 values in Wisconsin. 



These prices are often exceeded for prime crops in 

 prosperous times. One-third of the Connecticut valley 

 crop of 1892 was sold at an average of 26 cents per 

 pound through, in the bundle on the farm, but when the 

 presidential election, in November of that year, fore- 

 shadowed a lower tariff, prices rapidly declined, and the 

 whole crop was moved only at 12 to 15 cents, averaging 

 about 13 cents per pound, causing a loss of $3,200,000 

 to the planters of that section on that one crop. The 

 decline in the Middle States was proportionately as 

 serious. 



Aside from these political conditions that affect the 

 value of cigar-leaf tobacco, prices depend very much on 

 the quality of the leaf produced, both in the United 

 States and in other countries. Should failures occur 

 with the Sumatran crop or in Cuba, or should these 

 crops, in any way, prove to be of very inferior quality, 

 these circumstances would have a stimulating effect on 

 the value of domestic leaf. Should it so happen that 

 only one or two States in America, the same year, pro- 

 duced a crop of satisfactory quality, the growers of such 

 leaf would probably get extraordinary prices. Thus, 

 the crop may fluctuate in value very seriously from year 

 to year, and even from one part of the season to another. 

 It is not always possible to tell at harvest time, or even 

 after curing, what the quality of the leaf will be, and 

 sometimes a crop that goes into the sweat in apparently 



