162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



a lot of waste product on hand, to dispose of as best you 

 can. This is ])ad enough, and it is made worse by the fact 

 that, owing to the varying shapes of the leaf, you cannot 

 accurately tell beforehand just how large this waste product 

 will be ; it is a risk in buying. Of course certain leaves, cer- 

 tain whole cases, may be used as " vein-cutters " for molded, 

 not for hand-made cigars. 



And, lastly, the Sumatra and Florida leaf is raised chiefly 

 on very large plantations, under quite uniform conditions 

 of soil, tillage, fertilizer, etc., and with one particular strain 

 of seed. Large packings can be made of leaf which is all 

 one thing. With us, several distinct strains of both Seed- 

 leaf and Havana are grown ; our plantations are many, and 

 relatively very small ; no two of us have the same ideas or 

 practice regarding fertilizers ; and the character of the to- 

 bacco soils differs as radically as the moral character of the 

 growers or their ideas of the methods of fertilizino; and 

 handling the crop. As a result, the packer has a large num- 

 ber of cases and samples of any one grade, — 22-inch light 

 wrappers, let us say, — which are not alike in style, in shape 

 or in yield of wrappers. From them a small manufacturer 

 can pick here and there goods that are alike and in quantity 

 sufficient for his need ; not so the "trade," — the big factory 

 w^hich is turning out millions of cigars each year. 



The buyer cannot readily find in this collection enough 

 cases of goods running alike in these particulars which I 

 have named ; and he turns to the Florida leaf because, with 

 vastly less trouble and expense, he can get just what his 

 factory needs. 



And, lastly, the smoothness and finish of the Florida and 

 Sumatra leaf at their best have some attraction to buyers 

 which may be more than a passing fad. Certainly the best 

 WTappers as to smoking quality — Cuban and Broad-leaf — 

 are by comparison rough in texture and often dull in color. 



Now, the difference between our Havana and Broad-leaf 

 on the one hand and the Sumatra and Florida types on the 

 other is often put in this way : — 



Two and one-half pounds of Florida or Sumatra leaf will 

 wrap 1,000 cigars; it takes from 8^ pounds upwards of 



