The Philippine Islands produce from 50 to 100 million lbs., of tobacco annually. The crop for 1913 was 101,544,736 lbs. The imports into the United States are principally as manufactured cigars by special arrangements which will be referred to later on in the chapter on cigars. CHAPTER IV PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO IN THE UNITED STATES TOTAL PRODUCTION. AMOUNT PRODUCED BY THE DIFFERENT STATES. VARIETIES RAISED. DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES. PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO LEAF IN THE UNITED STATES The amount of tobacco leaf raised annually in the United States varies from 700 million lbs. to 1,000 million lbs. Thus, according to the Government Statistical Reports, the production in 1909 was 1,055,764,806 lbs., being an unusually high figure. The production in 1913 was 953,734,000 lbs. and in 1914, 1,034,679,000 lbs. The average crop may be taken as about 800 million lbs., about half of which is exported as leaf, and the other half manufactured in the U. S. into cigars, smoking and chewing tobaccos, etc., and consumed in the U. S. To produce this immense crop over one million acres of rich, fertile land is under culture, the actual government figures for 1913 being 1,216,000 acres, and for 1914, 1,224,000, and the value of the raw crop is from 80 to 100 million dollars, which works out to an average value of from 10 to 12 cents per lb. The cost of producing the best grades of cigar leaf in the Eastern States is from 8 to 10 cents per lb.; in Wisconsin from 5 to 10 cents. The price paid to the growers is from 5 to 15 cents, except for the highest grades (cigar wrapper leaf) for which special prices, up to 40 or 50 cents, may be paid. Smoking and chewing leaf of average grade fetches from 6 to 7 cents per lb. From these figures it will be seen that the agricultural industry of tobacco growing is a most important one, and it is constantly increasing both in the quantity produced and in value. About 45 of the states in the Union are engaged in tobacco culture, the principal states and the quantities produced being as follows (for 1914): Kentucky 364 million lbs. North Carolina 172 " " Virginia 114 " " Tennessee 63 " " Ohio 78 " " Wisconsin 54 " " Pennsylvania 48 " " Connecticut 35 " " South Carolina 36 " " Maryland 17 " " Indiana 12 " " Massachusetts 11 " " Other states 30 " " ---- Total 1034 " "