TOBACCO AND ITS CULTURE. 165 



Mr. Graves. I will do so with the greatest pleasure. I 

 will say, with reference to this matter, that I have on two 

 occasions sold my tobacco at an average of seven hundred 

 dollars an acre, which would be a very high price for beans 

 in this neighborhood. 



Mr. Wahe. Then where is Mr. Smith? I would like to 

 have him explain his statement. 



Mr. Graves. Mr. Smith is not here. I will answer the 

 question. The seven hundred dollars which I received per 

 acre for my tobacco paid for all the manure, all the land, 

 and all the labor the first year. I don't pretend that I am 

 getting that price now. Mr. Smith was talking about the 

 crop at the present time ; I am telling what the crop has 

 done in the past. 



Mr. Taft. What did it cost you to get your seven hun- 

 dred dollars? 



Mr. Graves. It cost me $100 an acre for labor, it cost 

 me $125 for fertilizer, making $225 — leaving $475 for my 

 land. That is what tobacco has done, not what it is now 

 doing. I sold that tobacco for thirty-seven and a half 

 cents a pound, all round. 



Mr. Taft. Will you tell us how long it has been since 

 such prices have been received ? 



Mr. Graves. That was in 1868. 



Mr. Ware. That was a good while ago. Now, pray tell 

 us how it is at the present time, and whether any farms have 

 been redeemed from mortgages the last few years by raising 

 tobacco. 



Mr. Graves. Within the past few years the price has 

 very much decreased. It is regarded by those Avho raise 

 tobacco to-day that it is a very much more profitable crop 

 than anything else, otherwise there would be no plea in its 

 favor. 



Mr. Taft. What is a good crop worth to-day? That is, 

 what do you consider a good crop worth in 1882 ? 



jNIr. Graves. We call the 1882 crop of Havana tobacco 

 worth sixteen cents a pound, all round. 



Mr. Taft. I mean in dollars and cents per acre. That 

 is what we want to know here. 



Mr. Graves. Three hundred dollars. 



