Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and CommerceBillings, E. R.
History
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce
Billings, E. R.
Tobacco -- History; Tobacco industry -- History; Tobacco use
The Creole planters sometimes raise two, and even three crops on the
same field, two of them being the growths of suckers or shoots from
the parent stock or stump. The growers of Perique tobacco have tested
Havana seed, but can see but little difference between the product and
that from Virginia or Kentucky tobacco seed, while the growth is much
smaller. In color Louisiana tobacco is very dark, entirely different
from any other variety grown in the Mississippi valley.
Some few years since tobacco culture was introduced into California,
and the belief then entertained by those who planted the consoling
weed, that the state would soon become as famous for raising tobacco
as she now is for producing wheat and gold seem likely to be
realized. The soil and climate of California are admirably adapted for
tobacco. In the valleys the land is a deep alluvial loam, easily
worked, producing bountiful crops of the finest leaf tobacco. The
planters have experimented with several varieties, including Havana,
Florida, Latakia, Hungarian, Mexican, Virginia, Connecticut, Standard
and White leaf. Large crops are grown, especially of Florida tobacco,
which, with careful culture, produces two thousand five hundred pounds
of merchantable leaf to the acre. The planters get their Havana seed
from Cuba, preferring to do so rather than to risk the seed from their
own plants. At first they used home-grown seed and could not see any
serious deterioration or change in the quality of the tobacco, but a
singular change in the form of the leaf took place. That from
home-grown seed grew longer, and the veins or ribs, which in Havana
tobacco stand out at right angles from the leaf stalks took an acute
angle, and thus became longer and made up a greater part of the leaf.
Of Florida tobacco the home-grown seed comes true.
Tobacco is now being tested in the several counties in the State and
with every promise of success. Many of the ranches seem well adapted
for the plant and the planters are confident by their new process of
curing, of being able to produce an article equal to the best Havana
brand. The plants attain a remarkable size, and grow up like many
kinds of tropical vegetation, without much care being bestowed upon
them, although the plants are regularly cultivated and hoed. The
planters are not troubled with that foe of most tobacco fields, "the
worm." They attribute this in part to the excellence of their soil and
partly to the abundance of birds and yellow jackets. The planters do
not always "top" the Havana and do very little "suckering." If the
ground is rich, and free from weeds they let one of the suckers from
that root grow, and thus become almost as large and heavy as the
original plant. They believe that the soil is strong enough to bear
the plants and suckers, and that they get a better leaf and finer
quality without suckering.
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