CIGAE LEAF AT THE WEST AND SOUTH. 437 



publicly by tbe Florida experiment station. The 

 Florida tobacco "boom," started by the tariff of 1890, 

 was short-lived, but the work has been persisted in. It 

 is now demonstrated, since that date, that Florida has 

 all the natural conditions necessary for growing cigar- 

 leaf tobacco, both wrappers and fillers, of a quality equal 

 to most of that which has been imported from the 

 Island of Cuba in recent years, and wrappers of finer 

 quality than those imported from Sumatra. These are 

 strong statements, but they are justified. 



The industry in Florida has practically three divi- 

 sions : First, the culture of domestic varieties, which 

 are rapidly giving way to (second) the culture of 

 tobacco plants raised from the best Cuban seed, and 

 (third) the raising of Sumatran seedleaf. The seed of 

 the latter was obtained with difficulty by a man sent to 

 Sumatra for the purpose. A little of this importation 

 was planted in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and has 

 given promising results, but the bulk of the seed was 

 distributed in Florida. The 1896 was the third crop of 

 this new variety since its importation, and it is conserv- 

 ative to say that it has already revolutionized the 

 cigar-leaf industry of Florida, and upward of 1,000,000 

 pounds of it were produced in 1896. Plates V and VI, 

 on Page 36, give an admirable idea of this Florida- 

 grown Sumatran seedleaf, which is quite different from 

 all other tobaccos grown in America, or Cuba, and a 

 view of a whole field of it is afforded on Page 434. 



Havana wrappers and fillers have been grown very 

 successfully in Northern Florida, the most extensive 

 operations being conducted by the Owl Cigar Company, 

 in Gadsden county, who also grow Sumatran leaf. This 

 concern owns 17,000 acres, divided into nine planta- 

 tions and each having its superintendent. It owns 146 

 barns (each from 40x60 to 40x108 feet), 210 tenements 

 for laborers, besides its own mills, repair shops, etc. 



