Virginia Tobacco.
Virginia tobacco has acquired a reputation which has gradually strengthened for more than two hundred and fifty years. It was one of the first products to be cultivated by the English colony, and in less than a quarter of a century after the settlement of Virginia, had acquired a reputation hardly surpassed by its well known rivals, Trinidad, Brazil, St. Domingo, and Various tobaccos. The plant grows to the height of from five to seven feet; the leaves are long and broad, and when cured are of various colors, from a rich brown to a fine yellow. The finest of Virginia tobacco comes from the mountainous counties, but the amount is small in proportion to the vast quantities raised on the lowlands of the Dan and James rivers and their tributaries. The leaf grown in the higher counties of South-western Virginia is much lighter in color and much softer than the ordinary Virginia tobacco. Shades of color in Virginia tobacco (as well as in most others) serve to determine its use, while texture and length of leaf affect as well its market value. There are various grades of Virginia tobacco, especially in that grown in Southside, Virginia. "Long bright leaf" is considered the finest, while that known as "Luga" is the poorest and lowest grade of leaf.
The staple known as James River tobacco has acquired a world-wide reputation, and the same ground is cultivated and planted with tobacco now as in 1620. Virginia tobacco is known chiefly as a cut tobacco; "good, stout snuff leaf" is also obtained from it, which brings as much in European markets as "fine spinners." Missouri, Kentucky, and some parts of Ohio also produce large quantities for manufacturing into chewing and smoking tobacco.
OHIO TOBACCO.
Ohio White Tobacco.
The tobacco plant has been cultivated in this State for nearly fifty years. Sullivan, in describing the kinds used for cutting, says:—
"Two kinds of seed are used, viz., the 'Thick Set' and the 'Pear Tree,' and of late years the 'Burley' has come into favor. Nearly all tobacco grown in Ohio is 'fired,' that is, cured by fires or flues; it is packed in hogsheads of about eight hundred pounds net."
Another writer says:—