No. 4.] TOBACCO RAISING. L65 



Mr. Russell. \Xc have attempted to raise small-leaf 

 tobacco by setting it thicker, — setting the plants very much 

 nearer together. We don't have much success in that way. 

 It grows up higher, and throws out big leaves. 



Dr. Jenkins. No. We set the broad-leaf fourteen inches 

 apart and the rows three feet three, but it didn't diminish the 

 size of the leaves much, — planted even at that distance 

 they were as big as blankets. 



Ex-Governor Hoard. How would it be to try a little 

 poorer soil? 



Dr. Jenkins. It will do it. 



Mr. Russell. What will be the quality? 



Dr. Jenkins. I don't know. I think in Cuba, where 

 they have pretty poor land and pretty poor owners, it is 

 likely to have a better aroma than when the leaf owners 

 plow in a lot of fertilizer and get a big crop. What we 

 want is tobacco that has no flavor. The more it has, the 

 worse it is off". But where they grow it out in Cuba, flavor 

 is the great thing. I think the poorer soils, with insuffi- 

 cient manure, are quite as likely to give a rich flavor to the 

 leaf as better soils. 



Mr. C. F. Fowler (of Westfield) . I should like to ask one 

 question. You said our tobacco was too large — a fifteen or 

 sixteen inch leaf was of more value. I should like to know 

 who you mean it is of more value to, — the grower, or the man 

 who buys it ? A buyer won't pay one cent more for the small 

 tobacco than he will for the larger, if as much. What are you 

 going to do about it? Are we going to raise that little stuff*? 



Dr. Jenkins. That objection is well taken. If you 

 have a crop next year of sixteen or eighteen inch leaf, the 

 average buyer that comes around will not give you a cent 

 more for it than for the same quality of larger leaf. I do not 

 believe at first you would get any more money for it unless 

 you made a special arrangement with dealers before you 

 raised the crop. They want to buy it as cheap as they can, 

 and when they are buying they see all the faults and none 

 of the virtues. But it is much more valuable to the manu- 

 facturer, and ought to be of much more value to the farmer 

 to raise. 



