Five years thereafter came a new and most valuable 

 introduction of a tobacco type to tlie Connecticut Valley: 

 Havana. The U. S. Department of Agriculture had, since 

 1840, been distributing Cuban seeds to Valley farmers 

 but experimental crops had not been successful. By 1870, 

 however, more careful supervision by agricultural ex- 

 perts in Massachusetts and by federal advisers resulted 

 in the production of the desired tobacco. The fine, thin, 

 light leaf of this type was bland in flavor, wliich made 

 it ideal as a wrapper. Further, in its developed state, the 

 plant produced more wrapper leaves than that of any 

 other variety and supplied as well a superior leaf for 

 binders. 



This new type was known as "Spanish" or "Havana." 

 That grown in the Valley for four years or longer was 

 called "Havana Seed." Fresh seeds were obtained in 

 Cuba each year and, remarkably, the tobacco plants 

 thrived in poor soils unsuitable for almost any otiier 

 crops. Not long after its introduction to the Valley, how- 

 ever, production had to be curtailed. The unpredictable 

 consumer was responsible; cigar smokers rather sud- 

 denly expressed a marked preference for dark wrappers 

 rather than the light-colored leaf of Havana Seed. Valley 

 farmers tried darkening tlieir leaf with licorice, slower 

 curing, special sweating and other methods, all of them 

 successful — except with the consumer. It was not until 

 the early 1880's that there was a shift in taste back to 

 light wrappers. 



K 



ields, yields, and factories 



Only a limited amount of land was available to 

 tobacco farmers in the Massachusetts section of the 

 Valley. Yet prices of tlie best farm lands in Hampden 

 County, for instance, were such as to make later growers 

 yearn for "the good, old days." In the late 1870's land for 



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