LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Soils, 

 Washington^ D. 6'., March 18, 1898. 



Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a paper upon the method 

 of cultivation and statistics of the tobacco crop of Sumatra and the 

 physical features of the tobacco district, prepared at your request by 

 Mr. Emile Mulder, of Starke, Florida. 



Mr. Mulder is a son of the late associate justice of the suj)reme court 

 of the Netherlands' East Indian colonies. He lived for many years in 

 the East and opened and managed for a number of years a tobacco 

 plantation on the east coast of Sumatra. 



There is so much interest taken in the growing of cigar tobaccos in 

 this country at present and so much competition from both Sumatra 

 and Cuba, that it seems important to lay before our tobacco growers all 

 the information possible in regard to the conditions and methods of 

 production in the countries from which the competition is most severely 

 felt. Sumatra tobacco competes particularly with the product from the 

 Connecticut Valley, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Florida. Florida 

 and the Connecticut Valley produce a wrapper more nearly like the 

 Sumatra than any other places in this country, yet on account of the 

 very fine texture and the very thorough grading of the imported Suma- 

 tra leaf it brings readily from $2.50 to 85 per pound in our markets 

 against 25 to 50 cents per pound for the very best grades of our Con- 

 necticut Valley leaf. The reason for this difference in price is partly 

 fashion, as the Sumatra leaf makes a fine smooth wrapper, which looks 

 well iD a case 5 partly economy, as a pound will cover four or five times 

 as many cigars as a pound of domestic wrapper and there is very little 

 waste. Furthermore it is so well assorted as to length, color, and shade, 

 that small manufacturers can maintain a particular brand with a small 

 amount of wrapper leaf to select from, while with the domestic leaf 

 the color so lacks uniformity in the case, that it is necessary to have a 

 considerable stock on hand in order to maintain a uniform brand of 

 cigars. 



It is very desirable that our peoi^le be as fully informed as possible 

 in regard to the conditions and inethods which produce this tobacco, 



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