1883.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



23 



The Facts About the Fultz. 



Tliu following caR't'ully verilictl history of 

 the celebrated Fultz wheat— concerning the 

 origin of which many conflicting accounts are 

 current— is furnished by Mr. David Detweiler, 

 and may be relied upon :is exact : 



"Twenty years ago, Abraham Kulsor Fultz 

 (pronounced Foolts— the vowel short), living 

 near Allenville, Milllin county, Pa., while 

 harvestiiifi; for his neighbor, (_'. Yoder, in 

 lluntiiulon county, in a field of Lancaster 

 Red wheat, which was much broken down 

 and tangled, noticed three stalks of a dilVerent 

 wheat standing straight, and l)earing beauti- 

 ful heads. He plucked and stuck them on 

 bis bat and in the evening gave tbern to Mr. 

 Voder, and insisted on biui taking care of 

 them and planting them ; but Mv. Yoder said 

 that Mr. Kuls should take tbeni along home 

 and see what be could make out of them. 

 Mr. F. did so, and in '(US be had a little over 

 half a pint. He planted this and bad a little 

 over a peck in '64 ; sowed again and had sev- 

 eral bushels in '05, and in '06 he gives a little 

 to ('. Di-tweiler, and had a few bushels ground 

 which made srood Hour. In 1S09 there was 

 over 3,000 bushels of it tlu-eshed in the neigb- 

 borbood. This was all distributed among 

 farmers for seed, and from that time on it 

 si)read fast over our entire wheat-growing belt. 

 It is estimated by men of good judgment that 

 in ten years those three heads of wheat in- 

 creased to millions of bushels in the United 

 States. Abraham Fuls lives two miles south 

 of Allenville, at the foot of .Tack's Mountains; 

 owns a small stony two-horse farm : is a hard 

 working man, a good neighbor, good citizen, 

 and Christian ; in fact, a good man every way 

 you take bim, but has no gift to talk, or he 

 might have made a uice thing out of the 

 wheat that boars bis name, and that has 

 proved to be worth millions to the grain- 

 growing farmers of our country. He should 

 have a good reward. Ten thousand dollars 

 would be a small reward forward for what be 

 has done for agriculture ; 2,000 to .5,000 acres 

 of Government laud in the far West would 

 be only a partial compensation of his thoughi;- 

 ful service." 



:Mr. Detweiler, who is a near neighbor to 

 Mr. Fuls, says the idea of deserved recogni- 

 tion is general in that community. If agri- 

 cultural societies, or private individuals, who 

 li.ive shared in the benefit, would contribute 

 lilierally to the proposed testimonial, such 

 action would doul)tless encourage to further 

 observation and patient effort in the .same im- 

 portant direction. 



Selections. 



TOBACCO GROWING. 



How It Has Enriched Our County. 

 It is about 270 years since tobacco was first 

 grown for commercial purposes. From the 

 few thousand pounds raised in the youthful 

 colony of Virginia in 1615, the culture of this 

 article has extended into almost every coun- 

 try. To-day the production of the world 

 reaches 1,500,000,000 pounds, and 700.000,000 

 of people, one-half the entire number of the 

 inhabitants of the earth, use it in some form. 

 There is, perhaps, no other instance on record 

 where an article not absolutely necessary to 

 the needs of the human family has gaii.ed 

 such a wide introduction among men in sti 

 brief a period. It almost seems to ibdicate 

 that some mild narcotic is essential to the 

 comfort and enjoyment of mankind. The 

 purpose of this letter, however, is not to mor- 

 alize over this question, but to give some de- 

 tails concerning the growth of this industry 

 in a single Pennsylvania county, where, dur- 



ing the brief period of fifty years, it has 

 reached a most remarkable development, has 

 become a leading crop, giving employment in 

 season to thousands of persons and enriching 

 a whole community. 



The Beginning. 

 Nearly '200 years ago toliacco culture was 

 extensively carried on in the newly founded 

 colony of Penn. In lOS'J no fewer than four- 

 teen vessels sailed from Pennsylvania loaded 

 with tobacco. Of course they were small 

 craft compared with the sbiiis of to-day, but 

 the fact iieverlbeless indicates to what extent 

 the culture of this product was carried on at 

 that early day. It seems to have died out, 

 however, as little is beard of it until the first 

 (luarter of the present century, when it was 

 again taken up in a few places, but nowhere 

 so extensively as in Lancaster county. About 

 the years 1S25-30 the farmers once more began 

 growing it in a small way. There was not 

 much of a market for the product, and the 

 custom was for the grower to have it made up 

 into cigars for his own use, and the surplus, 

 if any, was sold to the local cigar dealers. 

 Those were halcyon times for smokers and 

 manufacturers. There was no special license 

 required to deal in the article and no internal 

 revenue tax. The cigars made were princi- 

 pally of two kinds, common and half-Spanish, 

 the former were sold at four for a cent, wliile 

 the latter and more aristocratic article was 

 smoked by the better-to-do class in the com- 

 munity and retailed at two for a cent. The 

 wholesale price of the former was from 10 to 

 20 cents per hundred ; that of the latter about 

 twice as much. Tlie amount of tobacco 

 grown in the State increased slowly but regu- 

 larly. The first authentic estimate of the 

 crop was made in 18.50, when 3, .500 cases or 

 l,400,0fi0 pounds were produced. The best 

 grade was sold at that time for twelve and 

 fourteen cents, and the inferior ones propor- 

 tionately lower. 



The Crop in Lancaster County. 

 Upon the revival of the industry in 1825, 

 Lancaster county took the lead, a pre-emi- 

 nence it has maintained to the present iionr. 

 The soil seems especially adapted to the 

 growth of this crop. Most of it is limestone, 

 but even where slate and sandstone prevail 

 good tobacco crops are grown. It may be as 

 well to remark right here, that all the tobacco 

 raised in the Northern States, from Connecti- 

 cut to Wisconsin, is known in the market as 

 "seedleaf," and is used almost exclusively in 

 the manufacture of cigars, part for wrappers 

 and the rest for fillers. Tobacco possessing 

 certain iunispensable qualities is re(piired for 

 this purpose. The wrapper leaf must be soft, 

 pliant, silky and elastic, not light nor llimsy, 

 but thin and tough, with veins so small as 

 not to show above the level of the leaf, and 

 only a moderate amount of nicotine ; and 

 above all it mu.st be handsome in appearance 

 and of pletisant flavor. All these requisites 

 are met in Lancaster county tobacco, to 

 which may be added the rich, dark brown 

 color so much affected by smokers at the pres- 

 ent day, and the adhesive white ash which re- 

 sults when the cigar is smoked. These seve- 

 ral qualities have made this tobacco a favorite 

 with manufacturers and have stimvdated the 

 production to its present extraordinary ex- 

 tent. There is seedleaf tobacco grown else- 



where in the United States that possesses 

 some or most of the above-mentioned (luali- 

 ties, but none other, perhaps, that possesses 

 them all. Lancaster city is the largest seed- 

 leaf market in the country, except New 

 York. 



Cultivation of the Crops. 

 Space will not allow of any extended re- 

 marks on the cidtivation of the crop. As 

 soon as the frost is out of the ground in the 

 spring, the tobacco seed is sown in bedsspeci- 

 ally prepared for that purpose, in favorable 

 localities. Open-air beds are pyeferred, as 

 the plants are hardier, although canvas- 

 covered ones are meeting with favor because 

 they exclude the minute tlea-beetles (Halti- 

 cidce) which frequently attack tiie young 

 plants. When the plants have developed three 

 or four leaves, the largest eipial in size to a 

 silver dollar, they are transi)lantfd into the 

 fields prepared to receive them. Here they 

 are set in rows from three and one-half to four 

 feet apart, the plants them.selves being placed 

 from twenty to thirty inches from each other 

 in the rows. The richness of the soil and the 

 variety of tobacco govern this matter. No 

 sooner are the plants set out than insect ene- 

 mies assail them. Tlie cut-worms come first. 

 They cut down the tender plants and the 

 planter must visit his fields every few days to 

 replace. In exceptional years the replanting 

 amounts to more than the original labor. 



After a few days the cultivation of the 

 crop must be commenced, and this must be 

 continued at intervals of a few days until the 

 plants have attained such a size ihat tlie pas- 

 sage of a horse and shovel plow between the 

 rows is no longer possible without injuring 

 the leaves. Meanwhile another eneray has 

 come along in the shape of the " hawk-moth" 

 (Spiiinx quinquemandatus), a nocturnal enemy 

 that lays its numerous eggs upon the leaves, 

 where they are hatched into the formidable 

 "tobacco worms;" these latter, unless at 

 once removed, soon eat large holes in the 

 leaves and render them unfit for cigar wrap- 

 pers. At a certain stage of its growth the 

 plant must be topped. The upper portion is 

 removed, only as many leaves being left as 

 the plant will be able to mature. When this 

 has been done sucker? or shoots are at once 

 thrown out, which must also be broken off, as 

 they draw to themselves the strength and 

 vigor necessary to the full development of the 

 leaf. When the plants are matured, they are 

 either cut or sawed off, hung upon temporary 

 scaffolds in the fields to wilt for several days, 

 and then carried on specially constructed 

 tobacco wagons to the sheds or barns, where 

 they are finally hung up to cure. After being 

 left there for several months the crop is taken 

 down, stripped from the stalks and prepared 

 for the inspection o'f buyers. 



Varieties, Prices and Profits. 

 The two principal varieties of tobacco 

 grown in Lancaster county are the " Pennsyl- 

 vania seedleaf" and the "Glessner," both 

 attaining a remarkable development of leaf, 

 and producing in favorable seasons very heavy 

 yields to the acre. Leaves from forty-five to 

 fifty inches long, and twenty-two to twenty- 

 eight inches wide, are not unusual in the grow- 

 ing season, and cured ones 20 by 40 inches are 

 nol uncommon. Not only the size of the crop 

 but its value also is largely dependent on the 



