cticut
seed leaf became known as a cigar wrapper, and in a short time took
the lead for this purpose, as it still continues to. It cured finely,
burnt white and free, and in a short time brought high prices. The
profit realized from its growth led some Connecticut growers into the
same mistake as it did the Cuban planters, when they, by misguided
culture, nearly ruined their crops and injured the reputation of Cuban
tobacco.

Artificial fertilizers and strong manure produce a leaf larger and
heavier, but their effect on the character of the leaf is injurious,
the salts destroying its fine qualities, so that it sweats and cures
poorly, and compared with the finest leaf burns dark and emits a rank
and unpleasant odor.

The Connecticut tobacco grower requires considerable capital when
engaged extensively in the business, as ordinarily he buys large
quantities of fertilizers and requires many hands to cultivate the
crop. On the largest tobacco farms the sheds or "hanging houses" are
built near or in the field, and are sometimes very large, say two or
three hundred feet in length, and capable of holding the crop of from
five to ten acres.

[Illustration: Home of the Connecticut planter.]

His broad fields of the weed can usually be seen from his house and he
loves to show to visitors the plants growing in all their luxuriance,
or to sit on his piazza and call attention to their waving leaves and
graceful showy tops. Few tobacco-growers can discuss the relative
merits of the numerous varieties like the Connecticut planter, and he
is well acquainted not only with the various kinds grown in his own
country but also with those of others. Indeed you may often see
growing in his garden specimens of Cuban, Brazil or Latakia tobacco;
such is his love for all that pertains to this great tropical plant.
He considers it one of the greatest of all the vegetable products and
never tires of lauding the plant and its use. He sincerely hates all
anti-tobaccoites and has a supreme disgust for the memory of King
James I. and all royal foes of the plant. He is, however, a man of
large and liberal views and bestows his favors with a princely hand.
If fortune frowns he may lessen his crop but never his attachment for
the plant. Amid all the cares and perplexities incident to life, he
puffs away and as the ashes drop from his cigar meditates upon the
probable future of tobacco growers and all users of the weed.

The Connecticut tobacco gro