CONNECTICUT VALLEY CIGAR LEAF TOBACCO. 199 



The United States is by fa,r the greatest consumer of tobacco, using one 

 and one-half times as much as Germany, the next largest consumer, in 

 1913. From 1872 to 1913 the per capita consumption of tobacco in the 

 United States increased 42.5 per cent, in England 58 per cent, in France 

 43 per cent, and in Germany decreased 33 per cent. 



In 1875 the per capita consumption of cigars in the United States was 

 about .8 of a pound; in 1916 to 1917 it was 1.60 pounds, an increase of 

 about 100 per cent. During this period the per capita consumption of 

 plug, smoking and chewing tobacco increased 28 per cent; from 1900 to 

 1918 the total cigarette production increased over 900 per cent, and the 

 per capita output of cigarettes increased approximately 740 per cent. This 

 indicates the increasing demand for cigars and cigarettes in comparison 

 with other tobaccos. 



Connecticut Valley Tobacco in the Market. 



Map 4 shows the shipments of Connecticut valley cigar leaf tobacco 

 to districts within and without Connecticut and Massachusetts. This map 

 also shows the chief manufacturing and consuming centers; for example, 

 in 1916 the state of New York received 18,871,861 pounds of Connecticut 

 and Massachusetts wrapper; Pennsylvania received 4,351,397 pounds. 



The Connecticut valley produces a high grade of wrapper tobacco which 

 is famous the world over. A cigar wrapped with a Connecticut wrapper 

 bears its own trade-mark. No other section of this country, barring a 

 small area in Florida, is so well suited to producing high-grade wrapper 

 tobacco. 



Methods of Sale. 



There is no organized market for leaf tobacco grown in the Connecticut 

 valley. Most of it is sold to "packers," manufacturers or dealers in leaf 

 tobacco, who act as packers as well as jobbers. Many of these packers 

 and dealers have a local representative or agent who may or may not 

 purchase from the farmer. 



As a rule, the grower sells to so-called "tobacco buyers," who may be 

 local dealers in leaf tobacco, local agents for so-called "packers," repre- 

 sentatives of manufacturers, or traveling buyers for wholesale dealers 

 in leaf tobacco. These buyers purchase the growers' crops by the pound, 

 to be delivered stripped and tied in bundles at one of the local sorting 

 shops. Practically all the tobacco is sold in this way. Of course there 

 are still some farmers, especially large growers, who keep their help 

 throughout the year and pack and grade their own tobacco and sell it in 

 cases directly to manufacturers or jobbers. 



Tobacco in the Connecticut valley may be sold either before or after 

 harvesting. Sales consummated before the tobacco is harvested, or by 

 the "contract method" of sale, are made in two ways: — 



1. The grower contracts to grow a certain number of acres of a certain 

 kind of tobacco to be delivered at a specified price and place in good 

 me rchantable condition . 



