10 TOBACCO CULTURE. 



necticut Valley, and those of Pennsylvania and Ohio ; also 

 the marked differences between tobaccos of the " wrapper" 

 states, and those of the " filler " states. 



The work of Prof. Whitney demonstrates another fact 

 of great importance affecting the practical details of tobacco 

 culture. He appears to have conclusively proved that 

 the character of the tobacco produced by any soil, depends 

 to a marked degree upon the average mean moisture of the 

 soil. When this point has been more carefully studied, and 

 is more fully understood, it is probable that the usefulness 

 of a soil for growing any particular kind of tobacco can be 

 determined with a reasonable degree of certainty. 



A good illustration of this condition is supplied by the 

 results of the moisture records of the soils at Quincy, and 

 Fort Meade, Florida, two widely separated localities, with 

 soils superficially quite different, yet producing nearly ident- 

 ical grades of cigar tobacco. Investigation showed the 

 moisture of one of these soils to be 8.26 per cent, and of the 

 other to be 8.6 per cent. The closest approach in character 

 of tobacco to that grown in these localities by any other 

 region of the country is the Counecticut Valley, where the 

 average moisture is found to be about 7 per cent. It is 

 quite probable that the recognized value of natural forest 

 growths, as indicators of good -tobacco soils, depends on 

 this relation between plant and average water supply. 



The "wrapper" producing soils of Connecticut Valley, 

 Florida and New York are fine in texture, light in color and 

 low in moisture. They are strongly sandy in character, av- 



