CULTURE AND CURING IN INDIANA. 41 







Farmers deliver their crops to dealers at any time after it is stripped, the season beginning generally in January 

 and ending in May. Two classes are made in the regie or soul h western counties, trash or Ings and leaf; the prices 

 in 1879, when sold by grades, being: for lugs, 2.J to 3 cents; leaf, 4 to cents; bright wrappers and fillers, 9 to 9J 

 cents, and some seed-leaf as high as 15 cents. 



In this district lauds suitable for growing tobacco are worth in the market from $10 to $25 per acre. Very little 

 land is rented for money. The share system of renting prevails here, and generally throughout the South, under 

 which one-third of the crop produced is given for the use of the laud, the landlord furnishing bams in which to 

 house the crop. When the landlord furnishes teams and everything except labor the tenant gets only half the 

 crop. The tenant provides his own food, but is furnished with house and fuel. Labor ranges in price from $10 

 to $18 per mouth, with board, the average being about $15; day laborers get $1 per clay. 



The following estimate of the cost of productiou per acre has been furnished by a gentleman at Booueville: 



Cost of seed-bed JO 50 



Weeding, and attention to same _ _ 80 



Rent of land (interest on price) 150 



Stable manure 1 50 



Cost of breaking land 2 CO 



Harrowing, lining out, and hilling 150 



Drawing and setting out plants 125 



Cultivating i 5 00 



Topping, worming, and suckeriiig 2 50 



Harvesting 5 00 



Assorting and stripping 3 00 



Bulking 20 



Use of barn, laths, wagons, etc , 150 



Delivering crop to market 2 00 



27 75 



Average yield per acre, 742 pounds. 



Cost to produce, $3 74 per hundred pounds. 



In the southwestern counties barns are generally constructed of logs, at a cost of abont $50. They are open, 

 and give little protection to tobacco in bad, damp weather. In the seed-leaf district framed sheds are usually 

 employed for curing the crop, but they are generally of poor character. 



STRIPS. 



Strips arc made at the following points in the state: Evansville, Booneville, Rockport, Grand view, Richland, 

 Dale, and Duutingburgh. During the year 1879 the amount of strips put up in the state, as nearly as can be 

 ascertained, was 1,710,000 pounds. For this work children from nine to twelve years of age are largely employed, 

 being paid 40 cents for every hundred pounds of strips made. It is usual to pay less than this for stemming tobacco 

 of broad leaf, and more for stemming lugs and tobacco having a narrow leaf. The amount of strips made by 

 children will range from 50 to 100 pounds per day, while full-grown experts can make from 150 to 200 pounds, the 

 quantity largely depending upon the quality of the tobacco stemmed. 



Narrow tobacco loses from 40 to 50 per cent., wide tobacco about 33J per cent., 10 per cent, of this being chargeable 

 to the moisture in the leaf at the time of purchase. One large firm states that in a business which lias covered thirteen 

 years the largest average yield of strips for any one year was 02 percent, of the tobacco bought. The absorptive 

 capacity is variable, ranging from 33 per cent, for lean tobacco down to 15 per cent, for fatty sorts. There are 

 four classes of strips made in the district: Long bright, long dark, short bright, and short dark. Lug strips are 

 classified iu the same way. These classes are again subdivided as to texture, fineness of fiber, width of leaf, and 

 absorptive capacity, the lean strips being separated from those of more body. When in proper condition of dryness 

 they are packed in hogsheads 58 inches high by 43 inches iu the head. About 1,250 pounds net of strips are 

 packed iu each hogshead. Casks cost about $2 each. Dealers pay for oak staves $20 per thousand, and $1 is 

 required to pay the cost, on each hogshead for setting up, including cost of hoops and headings. The lumber for 

 headings costs from $10 to $12 50 per thousand feet. 



It may be added that the best farmers pay but little attention to tobacco culture, nor are the best lands employed 

 for its production. It appears to be a favorite crop only with a class of roaming farmers, who cau always find a 

 ready market for it, though at prices which ordinarily will barely pay for the cost of production. 



635 



