No. 4.] TOBACCO RAISING. 147 



make any observation and experience in the matter valuable. 

 A final judgment on our experiments in 1901 cannot be given 

 till our crops have been fermented and sold. 



This year we extended our frame and shade to cover a 

 little more than an acre. About harvest time we measured 

 very carefully the land on which tobacco grew, including 

 half the width of a row on each side of the plot and half 

 the distance between plants on each end of the plot, and 

 found we had .93 of an acre under tobacco; but all the 

 figures I shall give hereafter are calculated to just one acre. 



The rows were 3 feet 3 inches apart and the plants 14 

 inches apart, giving about 11,290 plants to the acre, — 

 nearly 3,000 more per acre than with our usual planting. 



I need not give in detail here the method of building our 

 frame, though I have the figures with me, if they arc desired. 

 It is probably as heavy and durable as any that has been put 

 up this year, and more expensive than most, for all the 

 material was bought at the nearest lumber yard, none of it 

 being got from our own woodland. 



The cheese-cloth for an acre cost . . . . $162 94 



To put it on cost 12 45 



Lath used in fastening the cloth, . . . 13 17 

 The framework, including wire, lath, nails and 

 labor, cost $304.95, of which there should be 

 charged to the crop 20 per cent, — a liberal 

 estimate, assuming that the whole will be 

 abandoned in five years, 61 00 



Total, $249 56 



That is, our special outlay at planting time was about 

 $495 per acre, of which about half, $250, should be charged 

 to the first crop, the remainder to investment, subject to an 

 annual deterioration of 20 per cent. To this must be added 

 the expense of setting 3,000 extra plants to the acre and the 

 extra cost of setting by hand, for machine planting under 

 shade and at 14 inches distance was not practicable. These 

 items I cannot closely estimate. The cost of fertilizers and 

 of cultivation is the same under shade and outside ; the cost 

 of shaping the land is a little greater under the shade. I do 

 not think the eost of picking the leaves, bringing them to 



