Cigar-filler tobaccos.
Cuban.—The Cuban variety is used for high grade cigar wrappers which are grown under shade, but is generally grown outside for fillers. It is adapted to alluvial or sandy soil resting on red clay subsoil. This variety has a small leaf of fine tex ture. The leaves are short and round, with small veins, medium to heavy body, varying from ten to eighteen inches in length, and six to fourteen inches in width. When this variety is taken north the influence of the climate and soil conditions tends to promote the development of a large leaf at the expense of fineness of texture and quality. When grown from freshly imported seed in south ern tobacco districts, the tobacco seems to retain the valuable qualities of flavor, aroma, smooth taste, and other characters of the imported Cuban tobacco. Whether these qualities can be retained by continued selection of seed from desirable plants is a subject for experimentation, but the evidence secured up to this time indicates that it is probable that in certain districts in the United States uni form crops of Cuban tobacco having a highly desir able flavor and aroma can be produced by the aid of systematic seed selection.
In the Connecticut valley this variety is grown under shade for cigar wrappers, the top leaves be ing used to a limited extent for cigar fillers, and it is grown for cigar fillers in Florida, Texas, Ohio and Georgia. In Florida and Texas it produces one of the best grades of domestic fillers.
Zimmer Spanish.—This is largely used for cigar fillers, and is the most popular and extensively grown domestic filler. It is frequently used for blending with other tobaccos in cigar fillers. It is commonly thought to be a hybrid of the native Seedleaf and the Cuban variety. It is adapted to a light loam soil, and in the Miami valley, Ohio, where it is most extensively grown, the surface soil is underlaid by a red-brown clay loam. The leaves are medium in size, have good body and elasticity, with small veins, and resemble the Cuban variety. They are set close together on the
stalk, fourteen to twenty leaves to the plant. The plants reach an average height of about four feet. This variety produces an average yield of about six hundred pounds to the acre and brings an average price of about seven cents a pound. It is grown in Ohio and Wisconsin.
Little Dutch.—This variety is used for cigar fil lers, making a cigar with an aroma resembling the Yara tobacco of eastern Cuba. It is adapted to clay loam soils. The seed was introduced into this country from Germany. The leaves are small and narrow and the plants have a short habit of growth, producing a light yield. This tobacco requires careful curing and fermentation. It is grown in Ohio and to a limited extent in Pennsyl vania.
Plug tobaccos.
White Burley.—White Burley is used for plug fillers and wrappers for smoking and for the manu facture of cigarettes. It is adapted to well-drained, deep red clay loam soil. In Kentucky such soils are fairly rich in lime and produce good crops of corn, wheat, hemp and grass, but they deteriorate rapidly unless the fertility is maintained by the use of fertilizers and proper methods of cultiva tion. The leaves are long and broad and have a white appearance in the field. They have a hori zontal habit, the tips hanging down and often touching the ground. They vary in length from twenty-eight to thirty-six inches and in width from sixteen to twenty-four inches. The plants bear ten to eighteen leaves and reach an average height of about four feet in the field. This variety is a selection from the original Burley, the peculiar white, translucent appearance of the original plant having attracted the attention of the growers.
The Red Burley and dark tobaccos of southern and western Kentucky and Tennessee are heavy tobaccos, nearly related to the White Burley. Because of their peculiar characteristics they are largely exported. Burley is grown in Kentucky, southern Ohio, Tennessee, and, to a limited extent, in North Carolina and Virginia.