J-obacco revives 



But the Georgia economy came to life after the War 

 and tobacco growth was an important part of the new 

 post-War economy. Tobacco manufacture, though rela- 

 tively small-scale, proved rather profitable. In 1870, 

 Georgia could claim nine manufacturing facilities, pre- 

 dominantly in the northern part of the state, employing 

 around 200 people. More than a million pounds of 

 tobacco leaf were used that year to make chewing and 

 smoking tobacco and snuff valued at about $400,000. 

 It was later reported in the Census of 1880 that tobacco 

 was being produced in 96 of Georgia's 137 counties, 

 although little of it was being grown for the commercial 

 market. 



The beginnings of the modern tobacco industry in 

 Georgia took shape before the end of the 19th century. 

 In 1886, Georgia's Commissioner of Agriculture, J. T. 

 Henderson, took steps to promote tobacco by distribut- 

 ing 40 pounds of seed for farm trial, and by publishing 

 "A Manual of Tobacco Culture for Beginners." By 

 1890, Georgia was producing 263,750 pounds of tobacco 

 on 800 acres. 



c 



igar tobacco boom 



Growth of "Sumatra," a shade-grown tobacco used 

 as a wrapper for cigars, snowballed around 1892 when 

 farmers in Decatur County planted 3,500 acres of "Su- 



21 



