g 2 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



grown within the colony, by a fine of five shillings for every 

 pound expended on the foreign-grown article. In 1662 a duty 

 of two pence per pound was laid on all tobacco brought into 

 Connecticut. 



Nearly a century later inspectors were appointed to see 

 that only sound, merchantable leaf was exported from the 

 colony. 



It is stated that at no time prior to 1800 did the annual 

 production of the State exceed twenty thousand pounds. 



By 1840 it was a regular farm crop in the Connecticut 

 Valley. It was not till 1845 that it was introduced into the 

 Housatonic Valley. 



At first "shoestring" tobacco, a narrow-leaved variety, 

 was raised. This was a heavy-bodied leaf and unsuited for 

 wrappers. In 1833 Mr. B. P. Barber of East Windsor is said 

 to have introduced from Maryland the broad-leaved variety, 

 which was specially suited for cigar wrappers, and which is 

 now chiefly raised in New England. 



At present two sorts are raised, " Connecticut Broad- 

 leaf," seen in its perfection east of the Connecticut River 

 near Hartford, and " Connecticut Havana," which is raised 

 much more commonly than the other, both in the Connecti- 

 cut and Housatonic Valleys. Both varieties are thin, elastic, 

 silky, having little flavor, and commanding higher prices than 

 any other wrapper-leaf raised in the United States, excepting 

 a comparatively small amount of Sumatra leaf raised in Gads- 

 den Co., Florida. 



At present more than eight thousand acres are planted to 

 tobacco in this State, yielding over two million pounds of 

 cured tobacco leaf. The prices vary very greatly, and there 

 is no other crop in which quality makes such radical differ- 

 ences in market price. The very highest prices paid for any 

 crops raised in 1900 were perhaps twenty-eight to thirty cents 

 per pound in the bundle. Fifteen to eighteen cents per 

 pound was about the average price. 



The only lands well suited to the crop are light, sandy 



