ultivators 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 preeminence
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.

JAPAN TOBACCO.

[Illustration: Japan tobacco.]

Of the tobacco of Asia, the best known in Europe is the yellow leaf
grown in Japan. In those provinces where a high degree of temperature
prevails, the plant lives throughout the winter, but it is
nevertheless customary to sow fresh seed in the early spring of each
successive year. When fully grown, Japan tobacco attains an altitude
of about six feet, bearing leaves long and pointed, completely
enveloping the stalk. The leaves, however, differ in form in different
provinces, some being round and wide, others narrow and pointed, and
others thick and long.

The mode of cultivating also varies in the differ