YELLOW TOBACCO. 353 



900 pounds, and probably 700 pounds per acre is a fair 

 estimate in a good year, this being double the yield 

 reported by the census of 1890. 



There is great rivalry between the districts, as to 

 which grows the finest tobacco. For a long time Gran- 

 ville county, North Carolina, stood without a peer as to 

 quality, but Durham, Chatham, Caswell, Person, Nash 

 and Wilson now stand with Granville in the first rank. 

 Warren, Franklin and Pitt are all noted for growing an 

 excellent quality. The western counties of North Car- 

 olina make probably the best bright fillers and some 

 very fine wrappers. Eastern North Carolina and South 

 Carolina grow the whitest tobacco. The low, level, 

 sandy areas seem peculiarly adapted to growth of that 

 style of leaf. East Tennessee grows some very fine leaf, 

 but the proportion of green tobacco is large. The south- 

 side counties of Virginia have a wider range of product, 

 growing a much larger quantity of inferior tobacco, but 

 some of the very highest grades of the yellow product. 

 Every district has some peculiarity of product, which 

 makes the tobacco easily recognized by dealers. 



Wherever produced, this fact stands out with prom- 

 inence, that the soils upon which it is grown are prac- 

 tically the same in color, in composition, in general tex- 

 ture, in porosity, in physical characteristics and in 

 constituent elements. The opinions of the planters, as 

 to the relative merits of the product grown upon old 

 lands and freshly cleared lands, differ somewhat. New 

 lands are preferred in every locality where this tobacco 

 is grown, except in the midland district and in South 

 Carolina. In these districts the farmers, by judicious 

 use of barnyard manure and fertilizers, make the very 

 highest grades on old lands, though all admit that 

 freshly cleared lands with suitable soils will yield a very 

 fine quality. A peculiarity of some soils is that they 

 will make a very fine yellow wrapper for a year, or two, 

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