CULTURE AND CURING IN INDIANA. . 39 



In Pike county the bottom lands on Pataka river are of a great width, but the soil is whitish in color and cold, 

 being completely saturated with water during the spring and winter months and parched by drought in summer. 

 South of the Pataka the soils are reddish in color, and upon these tobacco is grown of a character resembling the 

 heavy product of Kentucky. 



Perry county, though very broken and uninviting for agricultural industry, has soils well adapted to the culture 

 of tobacco, which is grown on the sandy loams of the river bottoms and upon the gentle slopes of the hills, where 

 the reddish siliceous soils occur. The Saint Louis limestones crop out along the banks of the Ohio and in the valley 

 over the greater part of the county east of Deer creek, and the coal-bearing strata mount up oftentimes in rugged hills 

 to the height of from 200 to 400 feet. The soils derived from the weathering of the Saint Louis limestone and those 

 from the weathered drift, or the limestones iutercallated with the coal measures, are found to be best adapted to the 

 growth of fine tobacco. 



Brown and Greene counties lie farther north, and differ from those described in having more extensive drift 

 and lacustrine deposits, which give character to the soil. The coal measures are wanting in Brown county, the 

 underlying rocks belonging to the subcarbouiferous, and the soils have a varied character. The drift appears in 

 the northern part of the county, and gives rise to soils of much strength and durability. The alluvial soil, 

 mainly derived from the aluminous shales and sandstones, is often sticky and cold, unless ameliorated or enriched 

 by sands and calcareous clays from the glacial drift or limestone. On the bluffs flanking the streams are 

 benches of ancient alluvium, containing pebbles of quartz. Lacustrine loess and silts are found in various parts of 

 the county, making soils of fair fertility, and here and there are rich valleys, often partly surrounded by knobs from 

 200 to 300 feet high. Weed Patch knob rises to the height of 1,147 feet above the sea, and nearly 500 feet above 

 Nashville, the county-seat. Tobacco is grown principally in the southeastern part of the county, though it is also 

 grown to some extent in the central and northwestern portions. 



"Wayne county, in the eastern part of the state, has soils derived from the disintegration of the drift deposits. 

 The kinds of tobacco grown are the seed-leaf varieties, including Havana seed. 



METEOROLOGY. 



The reports of the United States signal office cover only one point in the state Indianapolis ; yet, while its 

 elevation above the sea is only 098 feet, the records at that point may be taken as a basis of calculation for the 

 tobacco-growing regions of the southern and eastern portions of the state. The observations at Indianapolis were 

 commenced February 10, 1871, and are given to October 31, 1880. Mean temperature : Spring, 52.2 degrees; summer, 

 75.1 ; autumn, 53.7 ; winter, 32.8 ; extreme range, 118 ; average range, 49.9 ; highest temperature, 97 ; lowest, 20 below 

 zero; mean annual rainfall and melted snow, 45.22; prevailing winds, south. The following is condensed from 

 observations extending from 18G4 to 1873, at Vevay, 525 feet above the sea, 72 miles south of Indianapolis: The 

 average mean of spring for the period included in the observations was 54.40 degrees; summer, 70.41 ; autumn, 55.38; 

 winter, 32.48. The mean of the nine years' observations at Indianapolis was 53.4 ; that at Vevay, though not for the 

 same years, was 54.08. The annual rainfall, including melted snow, for the period reported was: At Vevay, 52.77 

 inches, being for spring, 15.03 ; summer, 11.40 ; autumn, 15.12 ; winter, 10.02. 



VARIETIES OF TOBACCO GROWN. 



Numerous varieties of tobacco are produced in the state, chief among them being the Yellow and Blue Pryor, 

 Orinoco, One-sucker, Lovelady, Connecticut Seed-Leaf, Kite-Foot, and White Burley. The first named are 

 grown almost exclusively in Warrick, Spencer, Perry, Pike, Duhnis, Gibson, and Orange counties; the White 

 Bin-ley to some extent in the counties first named, and largely in Switzerland county; and the seed-leaf varieties 

 in Wayne, Randolph, and Shelby counties, and a portion in Greene. In the first named group of counties smokers 

 and Regie styles of tobacco are mostly grown, though about 40 per cent, was formerly taken for fillers in the 

 manufacture of domestic plug. A considerable quantity is bought up by local dealers and made into strips. A 

 large part of the growth, on account of its comparative freedom from gum, partakes of the nature of cutting leaf, and 

 when cutters are scarce and high some of it is taken in this country for cutting purposes. It is better suited, 

 however, for cutting in England, where a heavier type is used than in America. Of the whole amount produced 

 in the southwestern part of the state 45 per cent, is classed as nondescript, 20 per cent, as heavy cutters, and 35 

 per cent, as fillers. Ten years ago 00 per cent, of the crop was tillers and 40 per cent, nondescript. A very small 

 amount, made from the Lovelady and One-sucker varieties, is used for the African trade. The White Burley 

 makes bright smokers or cutters, and is coming into favor, because it brings a higher price than the varieties 

 heretofore grown. It is coarser in structure and dnl'cr in color than the same variety grown in Ohio and Kentucky, 

 and only makes a substitute for the fine domestic cutting-leaf. In Switzerland county this variety is grown almost 

 exclusively. About 3 per cent, of bright wrappers nrc made. 



There is also a small quantity of a smooth, dark leaf grown in Spencer county suitable for the Italian market, 

 and also a smaller amount of lighter color, taken by the French Regie, classed French B. The commoner sorts, 



