18S2.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



27 



wrappers over 24 inclips lon^, 7M pounds of 

 wrappers under 24 inelies, 490 pounds of sec- 

 onds, and 377 pounds of lillers, inakinf? a total 

 Iof ;5,271 pounds, by no means a large yield 

 80 far as pounds are uoncerned, but tlie great 

 price of-SS cents brought tlie value of the crop 

 to SI, 079.4:^), for which sum the fortunate 

 grower received a check. 



Cost of Growing Tobacco. 

 It is needless for us to say this lot of to- 

 bacco is a superb one. Tlie leaves are long, 

 silky, soft and tough, and the butts of the 

 "hands" are as even as if they had been 

 planed ofT. It has been well handled, as it 

 deserved to be. To show how much labor 

 and expense was incurred in the production 

 of this lot of tobacco, tlie grower, at our re- 

 quest, made a detailed estimate, which will 

 show not only what figures can be realized 

 jflrom tobacco growing, but what care and 

 nd attention are required to raise a Brst-class 

 rop. A year ago, at the request of tlie 

 ■Census Department, we procured from a 

 iuumber of well known growers careful esti- 

 jmates of the cost of growing au acre of to- 

 Ibacco; we have often wished to give them in 

 jthcso columns, hut as they arc to appear in 

 the government report we have not felt at 

 liberty to use them until then. The following 

 estimate will, however, serve to show growers 

 .elsewhere something of the cost of growing 

 Ifine tobacco here: 



iDterest on value of land (§250 per acre) 5 30 00 



Marking and care of seed bed 5 00 



PlOHinsf two acres onetime .5 00 



Harrowinf; ground three times 8 00 



(Making out rows 1 50 



Setting out plants S 00 



Cultivating witL sliovel-harrow five times 10 00 



Hoeing three times, eighteen days 18 00 



Worming, topping and euckering 35 00 



Cutting and liangiug in barn 8 00 



interest ou cost of barn, lath, etc 10 00 



Stripping and preparing for market 40 00 



Jringing to market 8 00 



S^alue of manure used 3.5 00 



Total cost 8^12 00 



Here we have as the total cost of the crop 

 212.00; the held was less than two acres, but 

 avoid fractions, we will call it two full 

 .ores, and we therefore find that the cost per 

 ere was SIOU.OO. This leaves the grower a 

 et profit of ;S4:«.71 per acre, which, all things 

 lonsidered, is truly a wonderful result. The 

 leld was so much less than two acres that 

 itrictly speaking, the profits may fairly be set 

 own at $4.jO per acre. There was not one 

 ay during the entire growing seasim that 

 ands were not at work in the field. The 

 vorming was not done once or twice a week, 

 rat every day; nor was this task left to chil- 

 Iren. In .short, the labor steady throughout 

 ;he season, and nothing was left undone to 

 lecure success. The sum realized shows that 

 t pays to give the tobacco crop careful atten- 

 tion. 



Another Paying Crop. 

 Messrs. Skiles & Frey received the crop 

 prown on 3i acres, grown by Mr. Jacob Sleh- 

 nan, of Manor township. The yield, in 

 weight, was much greater in this case than in 

 ;he preceding one, having been 7,737 pounds, 

 )r 2,210 per acre, but the price paid was only 

 54J cents through; this netted the grower 

 51,895.56 for his crop, or at the rate of 



$541.. ")8 per acre. If we allow for cost of 

 cultivation at the same rates as estimated in 

 the crop mentioned above, we have as th"; net 

 profit per acre IS435..58, which nearly equals 

 the results secured by Mr. Suavely. Let us 

 suppose, for a moment, that Mr. Stehman 

 had received the .same price for his crop ])er 

 pound that Mr. Suavely did, the residt would 

 have been that his 3i acres would have 

 yielded him a gross sum of $2,553.21, or at 

 the rate of $729.40 per acre, and deducting 

 SlOO as the cost per acre for cultivation and 

 expenses, we get the net sum of iii;(i2:i.4(; as 

 l)rotit realized from a single acre grown in 

 tobacco. 



Still Another. 



But we have still another case we shall lay 

 before our readers. Mr, John .1. Long, of 

 Drumore township, on last Monday, delivered 

 at the packing house of Mr. Daniel Mayer, in 

 this city, his crop grown on U acres of ground, 

 weighing 3,059 pounds, and for which he was 

 paid the smn of S978-8S, or at the ,rate of 32 

 cents per iioiuid through. This is a yield of 

 2,038 pounds per acre, which at the price 

 paid, would amount to .SG.")3,1() per acre. De- 

 ducting Mr. Snavely's allowance of $10(i as 

 the cost per acre, we havea net profit of $44(1. 

 10 realized from a single acre of Lancaster 

 county grown tobacco. 



The above figures, be it remembered, are 

 not ideal ones. They are actual facts. They 

 are from the books of the purchasers and the 

 checks received by the sellers. They represent 

 three tran.sactions consummated during the 

 present week. They are not isolated cases, 

 either. We have no doubt others like them 

 have occurred of which we have not heard, 

 and that still others, and not a few of them 

 either, will transpire before the present crop 

 is delivered. 



In Conclusion. 



A few papers in neighboring counties, whose 

 ignorance far outruns their sen.se and discre- 

 tion, have from time to time, been proclaim- 

 ing that their tobacco farmers are as skillful 

 as our own and their crops as good or even 

 better. We have been content to let these 

 sheets blow their penny trumpets uncontra- 

 dicted. We now confront them with facts. If 

 they have others that equal or exceed them, 

 we will gracefully acknowledge that their to- 

 bacco growers are more skillful and their pro- 

 duct superior; but nothing short of actual 

 facts will answer — bare assertions will not 

 serve the purpose. We have no desire to be- 

 little the product of our neighbors; there is no 

 occasion to do .so. But when we can get such 

 prices as are given above and realize sums per 

 acre that exceed those received by the growers 

 of seedleat anywhere in the United .States, 

 we think our claim to be the champion to- 

 bacco growers of the country is pretty well 

 founded. 



AMERICAN SILK GOODS. 

 The silk trade of America and the subject 

 of sericulture generally cannot be said to 

 have enlisted that attention outside of the 

 circle directly interested to which they are 

 rea.sonably entitled. Any one reading the 

 volume published under the direction of the 

 Silk As.sociation of America, by Mr. William 

 C. Wyckoff, of New York, will certainly be 

 interested and very probably be surprised. 



"Everybody," he says in his preface, "knows 

 that silk good.s, both domestic and foreign, 

 are cheaper now than formerly, but compar.a- 

 tively few persons are aware that the Ameri- 

 can goodsare, asa rule, better as well as cheap- 

 er. That there is iiiuch general ignorance on 

 this subject m.ay be shown in many ways— 

 perhaps the most striking illustration is pre- 

 sented by the fact that nearly the entire pro- 

 duct of some of our silk mills is still repre- 

 sented as of European make in the final sales 

 of the retailer to the customer. In fact, our 

 manufacturers are obliged to make better 

 fabrics than their foreign rivals in order to 

 attain the market where imported articles 

 held a long established reputation." Census 

 bulletin Xo. (i9, prepared by Mr. Wycoff as a 

 special agent of tlie Census ottice, gave 34,440 

 as the greatest number of hands employed at 

 any one time during the year ending June 30, 

 1880, in the various factories, to wliom $9,- 

 107,835 were paid in wages. The total num- 

 ber of factories reporting was 383, represent- 

 ing a capital investment of $18,899,500, and 

 employing 8,407 looms. The total net value 

 of linislied goods produced was set at $34,- 

 410,4(53, the gross value of materials and sup- 

 plies being $22,871,300. The principal arti- 

 cles of production were: Machine twist, $0,- 

 000,275; ribbons, 85,9.'.5,005; fringes and dress 

 trimmings, $4,950,275; dress goods, $4,115,- 

 205; handkerchiefs, $3,802,550; cords, tassels 

 and mill inery tri nimings, $1 , 392, 355 ; u pholster- 

 ing and uiillinery Iriniinings; 1 ,:!92,3.")5; satins, 

 §1,101,875. It is not very easy to make com- 

 parisons with imported silks, as the invoice 

 value of these latter is said to be on an ave- 

 r.age twenty-five per cent, under the real fig- 

 ure, while the duty and dealers' lu'ofits have to 

 to be added, but is estimated that rather more 

 than a third of the silk goods used in the 

 United States were of American manufacture. 

 About ninety-five per cent, of the imports 

 come through New York. The total value in 

 1880 was $33,305,400, or about $7,500,000 

 more than in the preceding year, a showing 

 without parallel since 1.871, when the im|)ort3 

 amounted to $33,899,719. In 1877 and 1878 a 

 figure of barely $20,000,000 was attained, the 

 figures being ehxpient as to the financial con- 

 dition of the coinmunity. .Silk, it may be 

 said, stands fourth in the list of duly-paying 

 imports, contributing $18,550,4(X) to the 

 Treasury, and so ranking after sugar, wool 

 and iron. The imports of raw silk in the last 

 fiscal year amounted to 20,138 bales, valued 

 at $10,885,107, a falling off from 21,741 bales, 

 valued at $il, 949,743 in the jirevious year, 

 but far in advance of former sea.son.s. 



Perhaps the craze which most frequently 

 agitates the agricultural community is that 

 of producing silk for home manufacture. 

 There is no diflieulty in breeding and rearing 

 silk-worms if one has time, patience and mul- 

 berry trees at command, but there is no 

 market for the cocoons, the manufacturer 

 wanting reeled silk — not cocoons. The man- 

 ufacture of silk thread, Mr. Wycoff tells us, 

 though it has now outgrown foreign comiie- 

 tition, was a long while "in the wilderness." 

 American housewives had a prejudice in favor 

 of Italian sewing silk, and Massachusetts 

 manufacturers had to humor them by afl'ect- 

 ing foreign packages and wrappers, and com- 

 pounding " Italian" trade names. The 



