CONNECTICUT SEED-LEAF AND HAVANA CIGARS. 809: 
packed in chestnut instead of cedar boxes containing from 
one to five hundred cigars each. A manufacturer of cigars 
nearly fifty years ago gives the following account of his 
method: ‘ We selected for wrappers those leaves having 
white specks (white rust) upon them, which greatly in- 
creased the sale of the cigars, and which were considered by 
smokers to be much better than those not wound with fancy 
wrappers. After the cigars were packed in the boxes a little 
Spanish bean was grated upon the cigars, or a single bean was 
placed between the cigars in the box.” At this time some 
little taste was evinced for colors, and cigars of a “ bright cin- 
namon red,” and afterwards, of a dark brown, were consid- 
ered the finest, while leaf that was black was considered 
worthless for wrappers. A kind of cigar which is distinctly 
American and which is made to a considerable extent, is 
called a seed cigar, and is made from tobacco grown in Con- 
necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. These cigars 
have but little reputation, and are of inferior quality and 
manufacture. A very good cigar, call a “sprig cigar,” is 
made from Havana and Connecticut seed-leaf filler wound 
with a seed wrapper which gives a good flavor similar to 
clear Havana. 
A full flavored cigar like a sip of rare old wine is inspir- 
ing to a lover of the “royal plant” and amid the sublime 
and companionable thoughts that its fragrance engenders, 
one is led oftentimes to reflect on its rare virtues and the 
benign effects it produces wherever known. Thus it light- 
ens the toil of the weary laborer plodding along the highway 
of life. The student poring over musty tomes sees with a 
clearer perception as its fragrance accompanies him along 
the pathway of science and of history. The poet “as those 
wreathes up go” sees Helicon’s fresh founts flowing clearer 
and purer. The musician “lord of sounds,” evokes tones 
from his instrument never before heard by mortal ear. The 
warrior, “fresh from glory’s field” is charmed by its fra- 
grance as he dreams of shattered battalions and sleeping 
hosts. The farmer nurtured amid the odors of the “balmy 
