CULTURE AND CURING IN WISCONSIN. 231 



HISTORY OF TOBACCO CULTURE IN WISCONSIN. 



The census of 1850 reports the entire product of the state at 1,268 pounds. The first attempt to grow 

 tobacco for market in Wisconsin was made near Madisou by Ralph Pomeroy and by J. J. Lleistand. There was 

 not much, however, raised up to I860, for the census returns show the whole amount grown in the state at 

 that period to have reached only 87,340 pounds. Of this amount Wai worth county produced 26,400 pounds, Rock 

 23,340 pounds, and Dane 8,968 pounds. An impression prevailed for many years that tobacco could not be 

 profitably grown in high latitudes, and it was not until the value of the northern-grown leaf as a wrapper for 

 Havana fillers was ascertained that it took a permanent place among the productions of the farm. The occurrence 

 of the civil war, by making tobacco scarce and dear, gave a powerful impetus to its culture, and it was at this period 

 that it began to claim the attention of some of the best farmers in Dane county; but its culture spread slowly, 

 there being much prejudice existing with a large class of farmers against its production, and it was believed that 

 it would quickly exhaust the fertility of the soil ; that it was a useless product ; that it ministered to a depraved 

 appetite; and that the extension of its culture would be an unmixed evil. It gradually increased, however, in 

 acreage, so that the census of 1870 showed a production of 960,813 pounds an increase of just 1000 per cent, in 

 ten years Dane and Rock counties producing eight-ninths of the whole, the former 229,568 pounds, and the latter 

 64/5,508 pounds. Since that time its cultivation has spread over nearly the whole of Rock county, the southeastern 

 portion of Dane, the eastern part of Greene, and the southwestern corner of Jefferson. In 1870 the production 

 was very largely increased, and the crop that year, which was chiefly sold in Edgertou, was estimated to be worth 

 $200,000, and that of 1871 between $300,000 and $400,000. Since that period it has formed a staple crop, and the 

 farmers in Dane, Rock, and small portions of the adjoining counties rely upon it with more certainty as a money 

 crop than upon any other staple grown, the production up to 1876 varying from 10,000 to 15,000 cases of about 400 

 pounds each. 



THE TOBACCO DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN. 



If one will take a map of Wisconsin and begin about three miles west of Madison, the state capital, on the shore of 

 lake Mendota, and trace a line nearly south, so as to include the eastern half of the townships of Brooklyn, Albany, 

 and Decatur, in Greene county, and the northeastern corner of Spring Grove township, in the same county, and 

 then curving into Rock county, so as to exclude the southern half of the southern tier of townships in that county,, 

 passing north of Beloit about two miles, and striking the western limit of Walworth county near Allen's Grove,, 

 following the eastern boundary of Rock county north about two-thirds of its length, then turning to the northwest, 

 so as to include lake Koshkouong, in Jefferson county, and from this point trace the line in a northeasterly direction 

 to the very center of Jefferson county, and from the latter point in a line curving first north as high as Prairie, then 

 southwesterly to the beginning, inclosing within the boundary something over 1,200 square miles, he will outline 

 the limits of the tobacco-growing area of Wisconsin in 1879. 



In the tobacco district of Wisconsin the area in 1S79 was an increase of 17 per cent, over that of 1878, and 

 of about 60 per cent, increase on that of 1877 and 1876. The yield was greater in 1879 than in 1878, but less 

 than it was in the two years preceding. The quality of the crop, however, was inferior, having been very 

 much injured by worms a very rare occurrence and in some local areas by hailstorms. The crops of 1S78, 1877, 

 a,nd 1S7G were very sound, and elevated the rank of the Wisconsin crop in the markets of the country. The main 

 cause of the decrease in yield in the years 1878 and 1879, as compared with the two years preceding, was the 

 extended culture of Spanish tobacco, a variety that always commands a ready sale, but does not yield as much 

 per acre as the larger seed-leaf varieties. The Havana or Spanish varieties are exceedingly delicate in texture, 

 witli a peculiar aroma, and probably one-fourth of the whole amount grown in the state, and nearly one-half of 

 the area planted, is of the latter varieties. While the yield does not exceed 1,000 pounds per acre, it sells readily 

 for 11 cents per pound. The seed-leaf varieties, though yielding 1,600 pounds to the acre, do not bring in the local 

 markets over 6i cents through. The readier and earlier sales of the Spanish tobacco make it far less troublesome 

 to the tobacco-growers, and it does not meet with such sharp competition in the markets as the seed-leaf. 



Several varieties of the seed-leaf, however, are grown, among them being the Lancaster broad leaf, the Connecticut 

 broad leaf, and the Vallandigham. The Lancaster broad leaf, generally preferred by the tobacco-growers of 

 Jefferson county, has a delicate fiber and a silky appearance, and shows some slight modification, owing to the 

 climate and soil, when compared with the same variety grown in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Tnis variety 

 loses in body but increases in fineness of leaf, and its capacity for moisture is increased 4 or 5 per cent. 



The Connecticut broad leaf, or, as it is called by some, the East Hartford Connecticut leaf, is preferred by 

 many on account of its superior yield. Though its color is inferior, being lighter than the Pennsylvania seed-leaf, 

 it has a coarser fiber, but a very thin, delicate web. It has a drooping leaf in growing, vhile the Lancaster grows 

 with an upright leaf, resembling in this particular the Cuba varieties, and the leaf is raffled and corrugated. This is 

 doubtless the same variety known in Pennsylvania as the Glessner, a variety highly prized for its excellence as a 

 wrapper. 



