c 



crops. The only interest of those pioneer farmers was to 

 produce enough leaf for their immediate personal needs. 

 The rich soil of Wisconsin was highly suitable, how- 

 ever, for a valuable tobacco type: cigar-binder leaf. As 

 new settlers came in, production spread. It spread on 

 such a scale that it soon passed the limited boundaries 

 required by personal use and developed into an impor- 

 tant industry. 



asli crops and consumer goods 



Today, Wisconsin grows a substantial part of the 

 nation's cigar leaf: over 20.5 million pounds in 1959, pro- 

 duced in some 20 counties on tracts ranging from one- 

 half to 10 or 12 acres. This production, about half of the 

 national total in its category, is represented by two types 

 of leaf, classified as Southern Wisconsin and Northern 

 Wisconsin. (A small portion of the latter is grown in 

 Minnesota. ) The official designation for the types grown 

 in the Wisconsin- Minnesota area is "cigar-binder leaf." 

 Its class name does not, however, indicate the uses to 

 which manufacturers put it. It has long been used for 

 non-binder purposes. Its final manufacturing form de- 

 pends on such factors as grade, year of production, and 

 price. 



The only diflFerences between the two types result 

 from the soil in which each is grown. The average price 

 of the former in 1959 was 30.1 cents a pound for straight 

 stripped and crop lots. Northern Wisconsin leaf aver- 

 aged 43.6 cents a pound; stemming grades, 37.3 cents a 

 pound. The year's overall harvest brought very close to 

 $7 million to Wisconsin farmers. This ranked it first in 

 dollar value per acre. Some 6,000 farm families employ- 



