CLASSES, TYPES, AND VARIETIES OF THE TOBACCO PLANT. n 



OHIO SEED-LEAF is noted for its exceeding dryness. It is a leafy product, aud is in more demand for 

 exportation than any other seed-leaf. It burns well, with a white chalky ash, which is sometimes a little flaky ; 

 has usually a good dark-brown color, and the type is more uniform in character than that of Pennsylvania. The 

 handsomest seed-leaf produced in Ohio is grown in Medina aud Wayne counties. It is large, flue, and very much 

 resembles that grown in Connecticut, but is rather light in color. Generally, the Ohio seed-leaf ranks third as to 

 quality among the seed-leaf products of the United States. While its color is not equal to that of Pennsylvania, 

 nor its texture so fine as that of Connecticut, in burning qualities that from the Miami valley is superior to both, 

 burning with an ash as white as that of Pennsylvania and with a solidity equal to that of Connecticut. 



LITTLE DUTCH, a very sweet variety, is grown to some extent in Miami valley. It has a sleek, glossy surface, 

 silky fiber, dark-brown in color, is very highly prized by cigar manufacturers on account of its delicate flavor, and 

 burns well; but having a very thin, fine leaf, it is very sensitive to fermentation, and is easily injured during 

 that process. If put in boxes before the stems are thoroughly cured it "butt-rots" and injures very rapidly. It 

 has a decided tendency to produce white veins, but, being mainly used for fillers and binders, these veins are 

 not so objectionable as in the ordinary seed-leaf. In the market this variety ordinarily brings double the price of 

 the same grades of seed-leaf. Indiana grows some seed leaf around Richmond, which is classed with the Ohio 

 product. 



WISCONSIN AND ILLINOIS SEED-LEAF is noted for its capacity for absorbing and retaining water, being always 

 limp, even in the dry, cold weather of winter. It has a thin leaf, is the most tender of all the seed-leaf products, 

 and requires to be handled with great care. In consequence of its tenderness and the careless manner in which it 

 is generally handled it does not stand high in the estimation of manufacturers. Much of this type is injured on 

 passing through the sweat, by which process it loses about 20 per cent, in weight, while other types of seed-leaf 

 lose from 9 to 12 per cent. The product of Wisconsin and Illinois has great uniformity of color, aud in this respect 

 is a superior type. It resembles the Connecticut seed-leaf, and when resweated has a fine finish ; burns with a solid 

 ash, especially after it has been resweated, and contains very little nicotine. 



FLOKIDA SEED-LEAF. This type is distinguished by the large number of white specks which cover the leaf. 

 These specks, though the result of disease and blemish, are a sure indication of fineness of texture. The color is 

 rather light for the present requirements of the manufacturer. At one time it was exceedingly popular, and 

 commanded very high prices, both in this country and in Germany. When thoroughly sweated it burns well. 

 The Havana sorts have a great delicacy of flavor and fineness of leaf, much like the tobacco grown in Cuba. 



Havana seed is a type intermediate between the seed-leaf and that grown from imported Havana seed. It is 

 smaller in size, richer in glossiness, finer in texture, and sweeter in flavor than the seed-leaf proper, and though 

 yielding a third less per acre, the higher prices paid for it seem to make it equally as profitable to cultivate as the 

 seed-leaf. In the West it is called Spanish or Sweet-scented, and in Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania it is 

 called Havana seed. It is very valuable, because it furnishes a large percentage of wrappers, while the lower grades 

 make very sweet cigar fillers, second in quality only to the Little Dutch and Havana tobacco. This type may be 

 grown on thin, poor soil, and made profitable when the larger varieties of seed-leaf grown upon such soils would 

 entail loss to the producer. 



OTHER CIGAR AND SMOKING TOBACCO. 



WHITE BURLEY LUGS. This sub-type is fine, bright, of good flavor, thin in leaf, light or yellowish brown in 

 color, inclined to be trashy and chaffy, and makes, with the jtforth Carolina and Virginia bright lugs, the finest grades 

 of smoking-tobacco for pipes. It is very popular on account of its mildness, and is composed of the lower leaves of 

 the plant and those badly mutilated by worm-cuts. Some of this sub-type, of a bright, thin character, is granulated 

 for making cigarettes. 



AMERICAN- GROWN HAVANA. Experiments have been made in almost every part-of the country with tobacco 

 grown from seed imported from Cuba. The first year the product is small, and emits, even while growing, a strong, 

 sweet flavor, aud the leaves rarely attain a length of over ten or twelve inches. It cures up a dark-brown color 

 when grown upon heavy clay soils; but, grown upon sandy soils, the color is a lighter hue, and the flavor is thought 

 to be superior in not having so much rankness. Florida produces a small quantity for market, and little patches 

 are common in every part of the country for domestic use. It deteriorates rapidly in flavor when grown successively 

 from seed matured in this country, but increases in size and usefulness as a wrapper. Its deterioration in aroma 

 is not so rapid in the extreme southern states as in the more northerly ones. Some experiments in cultivating and 

 curing this type are given at the close of the chapter on Tennessee. 



PERIQUE. This type is grown in Louisiana, and is cured in its juices under heavy pressure. It is very black 

 and glossy in appearance, emits a strong spirituous flavor, makes a very strong smoking-tobacco, and is not popular 

 except with those habituated to its use. Some of the product of Louisiana is air-cured, and is used in making very 

 strong cigars, as further detailed in the chapter on Louisiana. 



COMMON LUGS FROM THE HEAVY TOBACCO DISTRICTS. This sub-class is made up from the lower grades of 

 many types. It is trashy, earth-burned, of every conceivable color, deficient in body and weight of leaf, and milder 



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