Virginia was, until recently, the premier tobacco state. Tobacco was first raised in Virginia about 1619 when the quantity produced was about 20,000 lbs. By 1753 the records show that over 50 million lbs. were raised annually, all of which was exported. At this time and until about the period of the Civil War, Europe was dependant more than now on America for her tobacco supply, as at present a considerable part of her needs is supplied by her own production. Tobacco was not grown in Kentucky till about 1785 and a little later in Tennessee and Ohio. The cigar leaf industry of the New England States did not come into activity till about 1830. Cigar leaf was raised in Florida about the same time but was discontinued and was not resumed till fifty years later. Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee have shown a declining annual production since the Civil War. Thus Virginia in 1860 produced nearly 30 per cent of the total U. S. crop, whereas at present it produces about 12 per cent only. The causes which have contributed to the decline in tobacco culture in the Southern States are the loss of slave labor as well as the loss of capital during the war; more particularly it is due to the impoverishing of the soil without adequate fertilization. Thus with superior fertilization and intensive methods, Massachusetts and Connecticut give 1,750 lbs. to the acre, as against 870 and 580 lbs. for Kentucky and Tennessee. In Massachusetts and Connecticut the cost for fertilizer _per farm_ is $227 as against $17 and $4 respectively in Tennessee and Kentucky. Moreover, the Northern farms are smaller than the Southern. VARIETIES OF TOBACCO RAISED The varieties of tobacco raised are mainly of the native American species; but in some states (in Florida particularly) plants are raised from imported Cuban and Sumatran seed, in an endeavor to produce cigar leaf equal in quality to the leaf now imported from these places which commands a high price in the trade. The raising of cigar leaf tobacco from foreign seed began in Florida about 1902; and, although on the whole, the cultivation has been very successful, yet it cannot be said that the hoped for results have been fully realized. It was claimed for the Florida grown Sumatran leaf that in many ways it surpassed the native Sumatran leaf. Certainly the experimental samples of this Florida leaf exhibited by the U. S. at the Paris Exposition of 1900 were judged to be superior both in appearance and style and other matters. However, this superiority does not appear to have been upheld, for in the trade the native grown Sumatran leaf still holds its rank. Similarly in the case of Florida grown Cuban leaf which at the same Exposition was voted as equal to the native. The native leaf, however, whether due to the soil or not, has a finer flavor and aroma, and the best grades of native grown Cuban tobacco still hold the palm as the premier cigar tobacco of the world.