1S37.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



743 



though my experience in cuhivalinjr the crop more 

 thaii'doubles that of this truly eminent agricultur- 

 ist, yet I am compelled to brin:^ out the same ver- 

 dict. I believe it maybe lairlyilemonstrated, that 

 in ti\e ^)resi:Mit exhausted con(iition of the tobacco 

 district in Viririuia, there is Hlile or no annuii pro- 

 fit derived Irotii its cuilivaiion; and that ilio ulti- 

 mate conse<]uences! ot" its cuiiure are, the entire ex- 

 hausiion ii\' [he plantations upon which it is irrown, 

 and the destruction of wood land to such a degree 

 as to leave an insufficiency to lence thetn in. 

 These truths are hecominu: so apparent, that some 

 planters in this section of country have entirely 

 abantloned its culture — men, too, of the finest 

 practical sense, and who have been successful as 

 tobacco planters lor many years. The cultivation 

 of oiher crops is so mixed up with the cultivation 

 of the tobacco crop, that many planters are not 

 aware of the true proporiionol the labor of a fiu'm 

 that is bestowed on this crop. 1 have endeavored 

 to make an estimate of the expense of cultivatinij' 

 and securuig a thousand pounds of tobacco, and 

 compared it with the cultivation of other crops 

 suited to our climate and soil. In this estimate, 

 no account is taken of the cost of teams or planta- 

 tion utensils, my principal object being to contrast 

 the expenses of tobacco cultivation with other 

 crops: although 1 believe, on the score of teams, 

 &c., the balance of expense is on the side of to- 

 bacco. 



I have estimated the price of labor in every in- 

 stance at thirty cents per day, and supposed the la- 

 borer found in provision. 



Expense of tobacco culture. 



BurninfT 100 square yards lor plants, hoeinfr, 

 covering and manuring — lour days labor 

 with one hand, 81 20 



Fallowing one acre — one day's labor, 30 



To one other ploughing in the spring — one 



day's labor, 30 



To makingtburthousand hills — six days' la- 

 bor, 1 80 

 To drawing plants, cutting off hills, and 

 planting four thousand hills — three days' 

 labor, 90 

 To one other ploughinn; — one day's labor, 30 

 To weeding — two days' labor, 60 

 To first hilling — two days' labor, 60 

 To one other ploushinij — one day's labor, 30 

 To second hilling — two days' labor, 60 

 To third do. do. do. 60 

 To worming and suckering — (our days' la- 

 bor, 1 20 

 To topping and priming — one day's labor, 30 

 To cutting 4000 plants, haniring on sticks 



and scaffoldino; — five days' labor, 1 50 



To cutting and hauling wood to fire one 



barn of tobacco — two days' labor, 60 



To firing the same — lour days' labor, 1 20 



To striking down and bulking five hundred 



sticks — two days' labor, 60 



To stripping a thousand pounds of tobacco 



—ten days' labor, 3 00 



To re-hansing the same — two days labor, 60 



To re-striking, and packing in prizing order 



— two days labor, 60 



To prizintT 1000 pounds of tobacco — se- 

 ven days' ;labor, 2 10 

 To carriage to market, distance of fifty 



miles, 7 60 



To one tobacco cask, 2 00 

 To warehouse expenses, 50 

 To boanl and clothing ot one laborer, sixty- 

 four days, 6 40 



Cr. 



§35 60 



By the sale of seven hundred and fifty 

 pounds of leaf tobacco, at six dollars 

 per hundred, _^ $45 00 



By the sale of two hundred and fifty 



pounds of lugs, 6 75 



Nett profit, if cost of teams 

 were included, 



§152 75 

 35 60 



817 15 



We will now make another calculation to show 

 a similar residt. It is the general estimate that a 

 neirro fellow that now hires for eighty dollars, will 

 n)ake fifteen hundred pounds of tobacco, and sup- 

 port himself by the grain made on the plantation. 

 Suppose, then, the fifteen hundred pounds of to- 

 bacco is valued at eighly-five dollars, the hire and 

 clothing of the neiiro lellow amount to ninety-two 

 dollars. The carriage to market, cask, and ware- 

 house expenses, deducted from eighty-five dollars, 

 will leave- seventy-five. So that the difference be- 

 tween ninety-two and seventy-five, which is se- 

 venteen dollars, is the loss in cultivating one hogs- 

 head of tobacco. 



The ditierence in the result of the two state- 

 ments above rnade, arises from the fact that the 

 items of the days of labor were made as low as 

 the greatest industry and exertion on the part of 

 the laborer would justify. So that the last state- 

 ment may be regarded as approxlmatinir nearer to 

 the true profit of tobacco culiivation. Boih of the 

 eslimates, however, conclusively show, that the 

 cultivation of tobacco, at the present market price, 

 is tmprofitabie. When we add lo this the expense 

 of wood consumed in firing, of timber in building 

 barns, the meairer return ol' manure from tobacco, 

 and the great obstacle to imjjrovement presented 

 by a monopoly of nearly all the labor of a liirm, it 

 will convince a planter, of ordinary discernment, 

 that as a system, it yields no profit, and is fast de- 

 stroying the landed capital of the country. To- 

 bacco culture is peopling the distant west, even 

 faster than the demon avarice, who is folingon an- 

 nually, thousands of pilgrims to worship at her 

 shrine in a promised land of milk and honey, but 

 who seldom live to sacrifice on her unhallowed 

 altar. 



The question now occurs, what can be cultivat- 

 ed as a substitute lor tobacco: and if the above es- 

 timates are correct, a substitute that will yield a 

 very small profit, is preferable. An acre of land 

 that will produce a thousand pounds of tobacco, 

 will produce twenty-five bushels of wheat in any 

 ordinary year, since it requires land of uncommon 

 fertility to produce a pound of tobacco from lour 

 plants. The expense of cultivating an acre of 

 land in wheat, is as follows: 



To one day's fallowing, $0 30 



To half of a da}- harrowing, 15 

 To cutting and shocking one acre of wheat 



— one day's labor lor a band, 30 



