TOBACCO (ante). The culture of tobacco began in Virginia with the first settle ment of the colony. It is recorded that in 1615 the gardens, fields, and even the streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco; which immediately became, not only the staple crop, but the principal currency of the colony. In 1619 " ninety agreeable persons, young and incorrupt," and in 1621, "sixty more maids, of virtuous education, young and handsome," were sent out from London on a marriage speculation. The first lot of hese ladies was bought by the colonists for 120 pounds of tobacco each; the second lot brought 150 pounds each. By the year 1622 the annual product of tobacco amounted to 60,000 pounds, and it more than doubled during the next 20 years. The culture of this plant was introduced into the Dutch colony of New York in 1646, though it never gained the same prominence there as further south. But Maryland, the Caro linas, Georgia, and later Kentucky, made it the leading object of their culture almost from their first settlement. It long constituted the most valuable export of British America; but the product per acre had been diminishing for many years before the revolution, owing to the difficulty of supplying manure, and the consequent exhaustion of the soil. From 1744 to 1776 the exports of this crop averaged 40,000,000 pounds a year. Tobacco has now become a somewhat prominent crop in Massachusetts and Con necticut, and in both of these states its culture has rapidly extended. In 1850 but 138,246 pounds were raised in Massachusetts; in 1860 the crop increased to 3,233,198 pounds, and in 1870 to 7,312,885. Since the latter date it has fallen off, and in 1878 was 4,320,000; and 1879, 4,350,000 pounds. The aggregate yield of the country in 1840 was reported by the census of that year as 219,163,319 pounds; in 1850 it was reduced to 199,752,655 pounds; but in 1860 it went up to 4-34,209,461 pounds, to fall again in 1870 to 2-62,735,021 pounds, a fluctuation to be explained in part by the many casualties to which it is liable, damage by insects, hail, drought-, frosts, etc. Though it is produced in all the states, there were only 14 states in 1870 that produced, each, as much as 1,000,000 pounds, while several counties in tobacco states yield each two, three, or five millions of pounds. Kentucky and Virginia were credited with more than half the crop, the former state alone 40 per cent of it. Only seven states separately exceeded 10,000,000 pounds, by the census of 1870; Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Mary land, Missouri, and North Carolina, in order of precedence. Connecticut grows some tobacco in every county, though Hartford co. was credited in 1870 with 5,830,209 pounds of the 8,328,798 pounds reported. Three Atlantic states, with four western, at one time monopolized the production, as may be seen by the following table: None of the cotton states produce much tobacco, but one county in Florida, Gadsden, has long been celebrated for the production of Cuba tobacco, which always brings a high price. In 1870 there were 211 counties in the United States producing more than
100,000 pounds each, while all others contributed little more than 5 per cent of the crop. The number of acres planted in tobacco in all the states was, in 1874, 148,277, divided as follows: New Hampshire, 130; Massachusetts, 385; Connecticut, 6,475; New York, 1215; Pennsylvania, 8,427; Maryland, 15,553; Virginia, 35,180; North Carolina, 12,737; Florida, 300; Tennessee, 2,402; West Virginia, 600; Kentucky, 30,025; Ohio, 10,638; Indiana, 8,225; Illinois, 1382; Wisconsin, 760; Missouri, 13,843. The general average price per pound in 1874 was 11.1 cents. There are a great many varieties of American tobacco, the exhibit in the economic museum of agriculture in connection with the department at Washington showing in 1877 90 specimens from 21 states, the best sample being a Virginia tobacco, said to have brought $4 per pound. Included in the exhibit was a specimen of wild Indian tobacco from Arizona. The Connecticut seed-leaf is cultivated almost exclusively in New England, and in certain counties in New York. A cross from Havana seed is grown in Bucks co., Penn., much resembling imported Cuba tobacco. The Maryland tobacco is of two varieties, the broad leaf and the narrow leaf. The former commands a higher price; the latter yields a larger quantity. Much of it is exported, a large order being usually filled for the French government. There are in Maryland the bay tobacco, big Pryor variety, white stem, Frederick, etc. North Carolina produces the Gooch, white stem, yellow Pryor, and little Orinoco; Tennessee has some of these, and also' the big and little Frederick, blue Pryor, big stem. etc. Much of the Kentucky tobacco goes to Germany, Austria, and the north of Europe; certain varieties are sent to Mexico and to to the coast of Africa. The white Burley, long green, Baltimore Cuba, twist bud, and big shoe-string, are among the Kentucky varieties. Rotation is commonly practiced with this crop. Thus, in the Connecticut valley it is customary to take from one to three crops of tobacco, then a hay or grain crop, followed by grass for several years. In the Onondaga district, N. Y., the order is clover, wheat, tobacco; Steuben co., clover, corn, tobacco; in Lancaster co.. Penn., which produces a large proportion of the of that state, tobacco is preceded by corn and followed by wheat; in Virginia the custom frequently is to take off two or three crops of tobacco, followed by wheat, afterward clover or grass.—Up to 1877, tobacco had paid to the general government a revenue of more than $426,000,000 in 16 years; meanwhile, it is a remarkable fact that the return to the government had been greater than that to the producers: the excess in 1877 reach ing $12,500,000. The following table shows the production, area, and value of the tobacco crop of the United States, 1868-79: