Biirley won first and second prizes for cutting leaf. It 

 ])rought $58 a hundred pounds. White Burley was "in." 

 Tlie spread of tlic new type, particularly through cen- 

 tral Kentucky, was rapid. It thrived best on the soil of the 

 Bluegrass (replacing hemp and other farm products 

 there), and on "old sod." White Burley (the White was 

 dropped later) quickly replaced the gummy, leathery 

 Red Burley, long a staple in various areas. It could be 

 harvested more quickly (by stalk-cutting) and cured 

 more rapidly than other types. As a result of the steady 

 development of Burley, tobacco soon dominated the 

 farm ecouonn of Kentucky. Its quality and taste im- 

 pro\ed, and manufacturers of smoking and plug tobacco 

 — particularh' the latter— became its biggest buyer. Bur- 

 ley tobacco is highly absorbent and an ideal leaf for 

 hea\ ily sweetened chewing and pipe tobaccos. 



-Ltie Glamour State 



Kentucky, having now found a firm place in the na- 

 tional economy, began to enjoy the fruits of success. In 

 relation to its major farm product, the only term appli- 

 cable was "growth." The 142,()()() acres devoted to to- 

 bacco in 1866 had become 320,000 in 1875, yielding 

 305,600,000 pounds of leaf worth $20,170,000. 



Except in specialized publications not much was writ- 

 ten about tobacco in that period or later. There were 

 subjects of far greater interest to the reading public. Tlie 

 pattern of glamorizing Kentucky— a century-old art- 

 became more expressive. The last quarter of the lOtli 

 century in the Bluegrass State was to become the good 

 old days when all was right in Kentucky. 



Hyperbole was not confined to Kentuckians. Take, for 

 example, the opinion of E. R. Billings, a Yankee author 

 of a book on tobacco. He wrote, in 1875: 



45 



