Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce

by E. R. Billings

SPANISH TOBACCO.

Spanish Tobacco.

For several years the growers of tobacco in the Connecticut valley have directed their attention towards the production of a tobacco possessing all of the excellencies of both wrapper and filler; in other words, if possible securing a leaf of light color and fine texture and good flavor, so as to combine all of the desirable features and qualities of tobacco in one variety. Some few years since the Department of Agriculture at Washington distributed a variety of tobacco seed among the Connecticut tobacco growers known by the name of Spanish tobacco.

It has been tested by many of the largest tobacco growers in Connecticut, and found to be one of the best varieties of the plant ever cultivated in the valley. The plant grows to the height of eight feet, bearing leaves about two feet in length by one foot in width, is an erect, strong, growing tobacco with a small, hard stalk and stout, long roots. The plant, when growing, imparts a strong aromatic odor not unlike Havana tobacco, but is larger everyway, and of inferior flavor for cigars. By repeated trials its superiority has been demonstrated to a certainty, while the profit arising from its culture proves it worthy of attention from all cultivators of tobacco.

When cured the leaf is very fine and light of color, the stem and veins of the leaf are small, thus fitting it for a good wrapper as well as filler. If the tobacco growers in the Connecticut valley can succeed in raising this variety, they will produce a leaf tobacco much superior to the common variety known as seed leaf. Beyond all question a much finer flavored tobacco than Connecticut seed leaf can be grown, and still retain all of the excellencies of the latter, such as color, texture, and size of leaf.

TURKISH TOBACCO.

The tobacco of Turkey has been called by some enthusiastic smoker "the king of tobaccos," but whether it possesses this royal preëminence over all other varieties must be decided by other than ourselves. That it is a fine smoking tobacco, no one can doubt that ever "put breath" to the favored pipe that contains the yellow shreds, but we should prefer by far to part with it rather than with its great rival, Havana tobacco.

The plant is not as large as many varieties, but grows up strong and flourishes well on account of the care and attention given it by the Turk and his family, as it is in all respects a family plant, and the flower garden is generally the tobacco field. Turkey tobacco ranges in color from brown to light yellow, the latter being the most in demand. This variety is similar in flavor to Latakia and Shiraz, and these three tobaccos, Persian, Syrian, and Turkish, are considered the finest and best adapted of all tobaccos for the pipe. The work of cultivating a field of Turkish tobacco is very tedious, as large quantities of water have to be carried to sprinkle upon the plants. The finest colored, a pale yellow leaf, brings "inflated" prices, but more often by others than the poor Turk who grows it.