1882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



11 



maniifactnrliis; rfiqiiirement, tliere is good reason for 

 aiillclpalinf; a large trade. 



Prices. 

 Prices continued steady tlirouchout 1881. Except 

 the slisflit advance effected on some grades In Aunfust 

 wlien only a lialf crop was anileipatcd, no clinnire Is 

 pcrceplilile in the year's tables of quotations. The 

 market commenced and closed strony. Ohio ship- 

 piiifl sorts are a trille lower than they were, but all 

 other kinds rule at the lone prevalllnij rates. 



Quotations January i, i88i. 

 New England — Crop 1880, wrappers : 



Common 1.1^17 



Medium 18r'ii'^0 



Fine 2.5(r.i8.5 



Selections 40(<i|.50 



Seconds I10i,\2li 



Havana seed - - - - 30 to 25 



Eennsylvania— Crop ISSO, assorted lots : 



Low lOCMa 



Fair 1^(1,15 



Fine 18@50 



Wrappers 18 to .50 



Fillers lito 7 



New York— Crop 1880, assorted lots : 



Common 8 to 10 



Medium 12 to 14 



(iood 15 to 18 



Ohio- 

 Crop 18):0, assorted lots - - - 6^(Sjl3>i 



Wrappers 11 to 20 



Wisconsin — 

 Crop 18S0, assorted lots - - - 6!.|;@10 



Wrappers 12 to 20 



Havana seed 12>i@lB 



Berks County Agriculture Society. 

 At the annual meeting of the Berks County 

 Agricultural Society, held at Reading on Saturday 

 afternoon in the Courthouse, the old ollicers were 

 re-elected, to wit : President, Jacob (i. Zerr; Treas- 

 urer, William S. liitter; Secretary, Cyrus T. Fox. 

 The society, for the first time in lifteen years, is out 

 of debt, and with a balance of ?1,5U() in its treasury. 

 A resolution was adopted authorizing an agreement 

 with the Park Commissioners to open the fairground 

 for the purpose of a public park, provided the con- 

 sent of the County Commissioners be obtained, and 

 that the city councils appropriate the moneys neces- 

 sary to the impr vement of the premises. 



Our Local Organizations. 



LANCASTER COUNTY AGRICULTURAL 

 AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The regular monthly meeting of the Lancaster 

 county Agricultural Society convened iu this city, 

 Monday afternoon, .January 2. The following named 

 persons were present: M. D. ier.dig, Creswcll ; 

 Daniel Smeych, city; H. M. Engle, Marietta; Dr. C. 

 A. Greene, city; Casper Hiller, Conestoga; Henry 

 Kurtz, Mount Joy; W. W. Griest, city; Hebron Herr, 

 West Lampeter; Enos. Weaver, Strasburg; F. R. 

 DitTenderfl'er, city; Calvin Cooper, Bird-In-Hand; 

 Johnson Miller, Lilitz; William H. Broslus, Liberty 

 square, John H. Landis, Millersville; J. H. Ilershey, 

 Salunga; S. A. Hershey, Salunga; S. P. Eby, city; 

 C. L. Hunsecker, Manheim township; Wash L. 

 Hershey, Cliiekies; E. H. Hoover, .Manheim town- 

 ship, J. .M. Johnston, city. 



President J. F. WItmer being absent. Vice Presl. 

 dent Henry M. Engle swung the gavel. 



Enos 11. Weaver of Strasburg, and Hebron Herr, 

 of west Lampeter, were elected members of the so- 

 ciety. 



Crop Reports. 



Calvin Cooper reported the grain fields In flue con- 

 dition; abundant rain has fallen and everything 

 promises well. 



Henry Kurtz, of Mount Joy, never saw better 

 wheat and seldom saw the grain a< promising as at 

 present; espeoially is this the case with wheat sown 

 on tobacco land; from which fact Mr. Kurtz conclu- 

 ded that tobacco does not injure the land. There le 

 considerable short leaf about his neighborhood and 

 much of the tobacco does not color much . 



TOBACCO REVIEW— THE OLD YEAR 

 AND THE NEW ONE. 



We take the following excellent review of the seed 

 leaf trade during the past year from the Tobacco 

 Leaf. It goes over the ground very fairly, as we 

 think, and will be found to be of unu.«ual Interest to 

 all persons interested either iu growing or manufac- 

 turing seed leaf tobaccos : 



The year 1S81 opened with an estimated stock of 

 seed leaf of 327,000 cases, consisting of .02,000 cases 

 of old of all kinds and 275,000 cases of the growth 

 of 18S0. The product of 1S80 was estimated as fol- 

 lows : New England, 40,000 cases, Pennsylvania, 

 110,000; New York, 20,000; Ohio and Indiana, .50,- 

 000; Wisconsin and other Western States, .55,000. 

 Total, 275,000. 



The sales In the Now York market during the 

 year were l.'iOjOOG cases, of which 13,228 were for 

 export. 



Consumption in i88i. 



According to the returns to the office of Internal 

 Revenue at Washington, there were consumed in 

 the making of 2,(;42,.528,130 cigars in the fiscal year 

 ending June 30,1881, 59,012,iir)9, pounds of leaf to- 

 bacco, which, at 3.50 pounds per case, are equal to 

 lti8,008 cases. This allows 22U' pounds of leaf to a 

 thousand cigars. The case is here reckoned at 350 

 instead of 400 pounds, both because the various 

 packings may average that, and because the revenue 

 calculations are based upon net weight. 



From the agregate ol eases must be deducted Ha- 

 vana, Sumatra, and other varieties of leaf used in 

 making cigars. Substitutes for Havana are latterly 

 used with freedom by manufacturers, and we sub- 

 tract for surrogates of all kinds the equivalent of 

 one-ninth; in other words, 18,734 cases, or about 

 65,000 bales, leaving about 1.50,000 cases of seed 

 leaf converted into cigars; in precise figures, 149,974 

 cases. 



The fiscal year equally divides the calendar year, 

 and it will be a modest assumption to say that, if 

 75,000 of 150,000 case, were used in the first half of 

 1881, the last half, just ended, certainly appropri- 

 ated as manjfcmore. It is well known that the man- 

 ufacturing trade was more active in the latter than 

 In the former period. Besides the i^^uirements for 

 cigars, not less than 25,000 cases of seed leaf were 

 embraced in the production of cigarets and smoking 

 tobacco iu the past year. 



Stock on Hand on January i, 1882. 



From New York there were exported in 1881 

 36,.594 eases, and from Baltimore 3,9.58— total, 40,- 

 552 eases. Tabulating the disappearances, the ex- 

 hibit is as follows : 



Home consumption ... 175,000 cases 

 Export 40, .552 " 



Total 215,553 " 



Accepting the estimate at the beginning of the 

 year, namely, 3-7,000 cases, the above total indi- 

 cates a remainder of old stock on the 1st of January, 

 1882, amounting to 111, 478 cases — not an inconveni- 

 ent quantity, though large. Pennsylvania, it will be 

 noticed is credil>ed with a crop of 110,000 cases in 

 1880, and there are tradesmen who assert that seve- 

 ral thousand cases might properly betaken from that 

 figure. Those so Inclined may do so. 



The Crop of 18S1 and Visible Supply. 



Among experienced packers and samplers opinion 

 dlfl'ers widely respecting the quantity of seed leaf 

 harvested in 1^81. Maximum estimates place it at 

 260,000 cases; minimum at 220,000, the majority 

 agreeing on the latter, which sums up as annexed ; 

 New England, - - - . 40,000 cases. 

 Pennsylvania, - . . . 73,000 " 



New York, 25.000 " 



Ohio, - 30,000 " 



Wisconsin and other Western States, 50,000 ' ' 



Total, 220,000 " 



Low as this total may seem: it is probably not 

 greatly at variance with the actual fact. Assuming 

 that It is an approximate, the visible supply appears 

 to be as follows : 



Old slock. 

 New stock. 



111,478 cases. 

 220,000 " 



Total old and new, - - 331,478 



Receipts in 1881. 



Of seed leaf tobacco there were received In New 

 York In 

 ISSl, ..-..- 99,891 cases. 

 1S80, 79,792 " 



Sales Each Month. 



Cases. 

 January, ------ 7,K00 



February, .-.--- 10,000 



March, ------ ' 9,.501 



April, 

 May, 

 June, 

 July, 



6,9.50 



7,923 



17,1.36 



10,479 



August, 

 September, 

 October, 

 November, 

 December, - 



11,400 



23,100 



17,000 



5,482 



4, .5.50 



Total, ---,-- 130,990 

 ' The total sales of seed leaf in this market iu 18S0 

 were 92,4.57 cases, showing an increase In 1881 of 

 38,.539 cases. 



Cases. 



Comparative exhibit of the export of seed 



leaf and cuttings in New York since 



January, 1S81,- - - - - 36,594 



Same time in 1880, - . - . - 31,837 



Same time In 1^79, . - - . 23,3S3 



Remarks. 



The year has closed with the largest volume of 

 sales on record. The highest previous figure was 

 reached in 178, when 124, .502 eases were sold. There 

 is reason to believe that dealers in this staple have, 

 as a rule, enjoyed a prosperous trade, and it is to be 

 hoped and expected that they will have similar good 

 fortune in the year now entered upon. Apparently 

 this year commences with a little larger stock than 

 last year did, but it must be borne in mind that crop 

 estimates are not based upon positive data, and the 

 figures set down for the several producing sections 

 mentioned above may be too high in some instances, 

 as well as too low. Possibly Pennsylvania is credit- 

 ed with 15,000 cases too much. When the writer 

 saw the 18S1 crop in the field in the latter part of 

 August, he would have been reluctant to believe 

 that it would yield 60,000 cases, the drouth seeming 

 to have dwarfed beyond salvation much of that 

 which was then standing. Succeeding rains and a 

 late growing season helped to improve the situation 

 very materially. This fact, and the clrcnnntanee 

 that a larger acreage than ever before was planted, 

 incline many to the belief that the product of the 

 3tate will not be far from 75,000 cases. Some esti- 

 mate it at 1 0,000. 



The above estimates forthe other States are certain- 

 ly not in excess. If the writer were to express his own 

 opinion, he would credit New England with 45,000 

 rather than 40,000 cases. For when he saw the New 

 England crop, which, also, was late in August, it 

 had the promise of undimished fullness and excel- 

 lence. 



It is not necessary to refer here to the eharactcristi?s 

 of the new crop as a whole. Some of it will he good 

 and some indifferent, as is always the case. By and 

 bye it will come forward for sale, when its merits 

 and demerits will be made manifest. The growing 

 season began and ended well, but its perfection was 

 marred by the want of rain when rain was most 

 needed. It need surprise no one, consequently, if 

 some of the crop shall hereafter be found defective. 

 Good tobacco is grown only iu good conditions, and 

 these were wanting in the hot and dry month of Au- 

 gust in most of our tobacco growing regions. 



The premature buying and high prices paid for 

 some of 1881 crop in the field are likely to be ob- 

 stacles in the way of a completely satisfactory trade 

 in 1(>83. They are surely going to impede the ex- 

 port trade, which is to be regretted for commercial 

 reasons. This year it is to be hoped there will be 

 less haste than there was last year. Yet, when early 

 and extravagant buying commenced, the situation 

 seemed to justify the movement. With the vast 



