TOBACCO 

 IN THE 

 UNITED STATES 



I. HISTORICAL SKETCH 



Tobacco is one of the products given to the 

 world by the natives of the Americas. Columbus, 

 on his first voyage to the New World, found the 

 natives using tobacco in the forms common 

 today— smoking, chewing, and snuff. Early 

 records show that they also understood the 

 essential features of modern production, includ- 

 ing topping and suckering the plants, and the 

 distinctive drying processes, now known as air- 

 curing, sun-curing, and fire-curing. Facts regard- 

 ing the introduction of tobacco to the Europeans, 

 the attention given it in the literature of history, 

 poetry, and romance, and its pervasive influence 

 in the social and economic affairs of mankind 

 have made this crop unique among the products 

 of the soil. 



The rapid expansion of tobacco production 

 over the world was phenomenal. By 1531, less 

 than 40 years after the discovery of America, 

 Spaniards were cultivating the crop commercially 

 in the West Indies; by 1560, it was being grown in 

 Europe as an ornamental plant and for its 

 medicinal qualities; by 1580, its commercial 

 culture had extended to Cuba and Venezeula, and 

 by 1600, to Brazil. By 1605, mariners and traders 

 had introduced it into China, Japan, South Africa, 

 and many other countries. 



History records that John Rolfe began com- 

 mercial cultivation of tobacco at the Jamestown 

 colony and, in 1612, a small shipment was made 

 to England. The tobacco that settlers found 

 growing in the Indian villages along the James 

 and Rappahannock rivers and other parts of 

 Tidewater Virginia was a strong type belonging to 

 the species Nicotinia rustica /_., believed to have 

 originated in Mexico or Central America. English 

 merchants preferred "Spanish Leaf," a milder 

 and more aromatic variety of the species 

 Nicotinia tobacum L.; which had been used in 

 Europe and Britain 20 years before the Virginia 

 colony was founded. The English settlers soon 

 acquired seeds of the desirable varieties, and 

 production increased rapidly. By necessity it 

 became the leading item of commerce with 

 England, for it was the only commodity the 

 settlers could produce in exchange for essential 

 manufactured products. 



Records of the era prove that tobacco was such 



a factor in the colony's economy that John Rolfe 

 grew it in the streets of Jamestown. Specified 

 quantities were required to secure the passage of 

 wives and provide salaries for the clergy. Without 

 tobacco the colony could not have survived. 

 During the Revolutionary War, tobacco was used 

 as collateral for' loans secured by Benjamin 

 Franklin from France to finance the war. 



In colonial days, virtually the only market for 

 tobacco was overseas. Usually the product was 

 packed in hogsheads and consigned to an 

 English merchant. It was sold on a commission 

 basis, and manufactured goods were given in 

 return. This system proved unsatisfactory to the 

 planter, because of the delay in the transaction 

 and the risk of dealing with unscrupulous 

 merchants. During the eighteenth century, 

 another method of marketing came into general 

 use. The crop was sold at the farm to a local 

 British agent, who maintained a "store." Here the 

 planter could secure the manufactured items he 

 needed. This system was more satisfactory and 

 became the most popular way of marketing. 



As tobacco culture was expanded into new 

 territories, it was seen that changes in soil and 

 climate caused important differences in the 

 characteristics of tobacco. These differences in 

 the properties of the tobacco leaf greatly affected 

 its suitability for use in manufactured forms. 

 Through gradual evolution, tobacco culture has 

 become highly specialized. Each district pro- 

 duces a special type of leaf particularly adapted 

 for certain uses: cigarettes, cigars, smoking or 

 chewing tobacco, and snuff. It has been found 

 that some types of tobacco can be produced only 

 under certain conditions of soil and climate, by 

 using certain varieties, and by following special 

 methods in growing and curing the crop. 



Currently, more than 500,000 farm families in 

 the United States and Puerto Rico grow tobacco. 

 Total annual gross income to farmers from the 

 1977 crop was $2.3 billion. Tobacco growing 

 requires a great deal of labor. A farmer and his 

 family, (or hired workers), must put in about a 

 total of 280 hours or more to raise one acre of 

 tobacco. This may be contrasted to the average 

 amount of labor— about 3 hours— needed to raise 

 an acre of wheat. 



