The smokers among these Enghsh pioneers had run 

 out of tobacco by then. Landing in the wrong place in 

 a harsh winter was bad enough; to be without the crea- 

 ture comfort of tobacco made their condition seem even 

 worse. It was a rehef to them, therefore, when they saw 

 Massachusetts Indians who were smoking. The rehef 

 ended quickly when they tried the native tobacco for 

 that type, an ancient plant in North America, was far 

 too harsh for palates accustomed to the sweet-scented 

 leaf of Virginia. 



The first orders for supplies from England included a 

 request tliat liad the urgency of a plea: "Send us "Vir- 

 ginia."' Meanwiiile, smokers had to do with an occa- 

 sional pipeful of the uncured native leaf which, as was 

 reported, "they much disliked." As soon as they could, 

 a number of the settlers began to plant tobacco. It was 

 their hope tliat civilized cultivation and curing, as then 

 understood, would improve the aboriginal type. Not 

 much could be done, however, to reduce its pungency, 

 though settlers in various eastern sections stubbornly 

 continued the culture on small acreages. 



The farming of tobacco in Massachusetts was, there- 

 fore, much earlier than is generally known. It was to take 

 time, more than two centuries after the Pilgrims landed, 

 before leaf of good quality could be produced in Massa- 

 chusetts. When that did occur, production was concen- 

 trated in a stretch of the long, winding valley through 

 which the Connecticut River flows. 



