152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Although others have repeatedly tried raising Sumatra 

 tobacco in the open, with very indifferent results, we have 

 made the same experiment this year, setting the plants at 

 the same distance as under the shade. We defer judgment 

 on this test until we have the finished leaf to examine, but 

 we do not anticipate any remarkable success from this 

 method. 



We also raised under shade about fort}" plants each of 

 Connecticut broad-leaf and of New England Havana. 

 While I doubt if it will ever pay as a business proposition, 

 to do this on a commercial scale, the pole-cured leaf, for 

 grain, color and finish, was certainly superior to anything 

 we had ever seen in the shape of domestic tobacco. 



In conclusion, our observations in 1901 leave us with more 

 confidence in the possibility of raising the Sumatra type of 

 tobacco in New England at a profit than we had a year ago. 

 It has not been demonstrated. It cannot be fully deter- 

 mined until this year's crop has been sold, manufactured and 

 smoked. Producer, middleman, cigar maker and cigar 

 smoker must all be satisfied. But I now consider it prob- 

 able that some growers can raise the Sumatra type of leaf at 

 a greater profit than the domestic type. I advise no one to 

 go into the business at all extensively, but I advise all suc- 

 cessful tobacco growers to consider it, and, if they have a 

 sufficient capital to justify a business venture, to try raising 

 at least a small patch under shade. 



I must pass on now to speak of another matter, — the 

 fermentation of wrapper-leaf tobacco. Perhaps it does not 

 interest growers of tobacco so much as it interests dealers, 

 although I believe the number of those who case down and 

 ferment their own crops is increasing, and at times it is cer- 

 tainly an advantage to do it. 



Trade and crop conditions within the last few years have 

 been such that it was often very desirable to get the new 

 crop into market at the earliest possible date. The trade 

 would not or could not wait for the customary sweating 

 process, which took from five to eight months ; so a method 

 of "forced sweating" was practised, which got the tobacco 

 into market in less than two months from the start, and in 



