BULLETI]^ No. 193. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS. 



THE SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION OF 



CONNECTICUT VALLEY CIGAR 



LEAF TOBACCO. 



Part I 



HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT VALLEY TOBACCO PRODUC- 

 TION AND THE CIGAR INDUSTRY. 



The culture of tobacco in the Connecticut valley is almost coeval with 

 its first settlement. It was grown here during the years from 1640 to 

 1660. The stringent legislation of Connecticut restricted, under severe 

 penalty, the use of tobacco to that grown in the colonies. In 1646 a 

 law was passed prohibiting the use of tobacco by any one under twenty- 

 one years of age, and requiring those who had not already acquired the 

 tobacco habit to present a certificate from a physician before beginning 

 it. A fine of a sixpence was imposed for the use of tobacco in the public 

 streets. These restrictions did not stop the cultivation of tobacco, but 

 tended to increase exportation and diminish home consumption. Never- 

 theless, until the latter part of the eighteenth century the production of 

 tobacco in New England was of comparatively httle importance. During 

 the first quarter of the nineteenth century the manufacture of cigars began 

 as a household industry in some of the towns of the valley. The industry 

 grew very slowly, and correspondingly slow progress was made in the 

 growing of cigar leaf, which likewise was undertaken first in the Connecticut 

 valley, in the section lying between Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, 

 Mass. In no period prior to 1801 did the annual production of tobacco 

 exceed 20,000 pounds. 



Over a century ago Connecticut tobacco was recognized as essentially 

 different from the Virginia types, and peculiarly fitted to the manufacture 

 of cigars. In 1801, 20,000 pounds of tobacco were produced in the Con- 

 necticut valley, and cigar manufacturing began in a small way. The first 



