CHAPTER X. 



TOBACCO PLANTERS AND PLANTATIONS. 



'HE grounds selected for the cultivation of tobacco 

 are called by various names even in the same coun- 

 tries. Thus in the Connecticut Valley, such lands 

 are called tobacco fields, at the South they are known 

 as tobacco plantations, while in Cuba the^- are called Yegas 

 or tobacco farms. In Cuba almost the entire tobacco farm 

 is planted to tobacco while at the South and in New Eng- 

 land this is rarely the case unless the plantations or tobacco 

 farms are small and contain but a few acres. In the Connect- 

 icut Valley and more especially along the banks of the 

 Connecticut River, where the farms are frequently small, 

 this is sometimes the case but farther removed from the 

 river, where the farms are much larger but a few acres of the 

 best land is used for this purpose. 



In the Connecticut Valley the tobacco fields average from 

 one to forty acres, rarely exceeding the latter and indeed 

 seldom including as large an area. The average size of 

 tobacco fields is about five acres sometimes all in one lot 

 but oftener divided into several small pieces on various parts 

 of the farm. 



The Connecticut planter is deeply interested in the plant 

 and gives it his undivided attention from seed-sowing until 

 it is sold to the speculator or manufacturer. All other crops 

 in his opinion are of but little importance compared with the 

 great New England product, one crop is frequently not off 

 his hands before he is preparing for another. The Connecti- 

 cut planter stands first in the rank of tobacco growers ; he is 



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