CHAPTER VI 



TOBACCO 

 By Dr. W. W. Garner, Ph.D.* 



Kinds of tobacco grown and varieties of seed used. — The 



tobacco iDlant will thrive under a wide range of soil and climatic 

 conditions, but only Avhen grown on proper types of soil and 

 under proper conditions of climate will the cured leaf have the 

 necessary j)roperties for commercial use. Several distinct t3^pes 

 of tobacco are grown commercially, each adapted to certain uses 

 and requiring for successful production special soil and climatic 

 conditions and cultural methods. The trade can absorb only cer- 

 tain fairly definite quantities of each type at prices which are 

 profitable to the grower. For these reasons tobacco culture has 

 become a highly specialized farming enterprise and is limited 

 to Avell-defined areas. Generally speaking, it will not pay the 

 farmer to try to grow tobacco commercially outside of these 

 recognized areas. 



The four chief commercial types of tobacco are as folloAvs: 



(1) Cigar leaf, used almost exclusively for the domestic manu- 

 facture of cigars and grown in the Connecticut Valley of New 

 England, Lancaster and adjoining counties of Pennsylvania, the 

 Miami Valley of southwestern Ohio, and southern Wisconsin; 



(2) Flue-cured or Yellotv tobacco, used for the manufacture of 

 cigarettes, smoking and chewing tobacco and for export are 

 grown in southern Virginia, in North Carolina and in South 

 Carolina; (3) White Burley, used for the manufacture of chew- 

 ing and smoking tobaccos and grown in north central Kentucky 

 and southern Ohio; (4) Darh Fire-cured Shipping, used for 

 export and for snuff and gro\\ai in western Kentucky, adjoining 

 counties of Tennessee, and in central Virginia. Other types of 

 importance are the Dark Air -cured of Kentucky and Tennessee, 

 the Virginia Sun-cured, and the Maryland Export. For grow- 

 ing cigar leaf the Connecticut Broadleaf, Havana Seed, and 

 Cuban varieties are used in New England ; Pennsylvania Broad- 

 leaf in the Lancaster district ; Ohio Seedleaf and Ziimner Span- 

 ish in the Miami district; Comstock Spanish and Havana Seed 



' Tobacco expert, 



130 



