CIGAE LEAF AT THE WEST AND SOUTH. 435 



several localities of Colorado, and to a more limited 

 extent in Washington, Oregon and California. In the 

 latter State, cigar-leaf tobacco culture is now receiving 

 the close attention of practical and scientific men, and 

 should their work prove successful in obtaining leaf of 

 good quality, its culture will doubtless be developed on 

 the large scale characteristic of California enterprise. 



In Texas, quite a number of crops of fine tobacco 

 have been raised during the past three or four years, 

 more especially in the southeastern part of the State, 

 particularly in Montgomery, Victoria and Calhoun coun- 

 ties, the latter adjoining the coast between Aransas Bay 

 and Matagorda Bay, Victoria adjoining it to the west. 

 It is stated that one farmer, in Montgomery county, 

 sold 8,000 pounds of cigar leaf grown, in 1894, on nine 

 acres of "gray hickory" land, and that he got 40 cents 

 per pound for the better grades for cigar wrappers, and a 

 satisfactory price for the lower grades for fillers. To- 

 bacco grown in Calhoun county has sold as high as 50 

 cents per pound. It is claimed for selections of the leaf 

 grown in that section, that it is equal to the best 

 tobacco grown on the Island of Cuba, for either fillers 

 or wrappers. Well-informed Texas growers express a 

 confidence that they will be able to successfully compete 

 with tobacco grown in any part of the world. 



The greatest interest and largest development of 

 late years, however, of the industry in the so-called 

 "new sections," has been in Florida and the adjoining 

 counties of Southern Georgia. Forty years ago, much 

 of this area produced a leaf which was considered desir- 

 able for cigars then in use, though most of the Florida 

 crop, before the war, was exported to Bremen and 

 Amsterdam, and was popular for its light color and 

 inild flavor. But the industry languished until the 

 tariff agitation of 1889 directed attention to tests that 

 had been conducted privately in Gadsden county, and 



