44 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Very little is known as to the early methods of culture and curing or the varieties most generally grown. The 

 iiethods were for a long time primitive and unskillful. The culture was with indifferent implements, used without 

 dexterity or skill, and the curing was generally done by hand-firing, or with no firing, as the producer might fancy. 

 The rude and imperfect methods of culture, however, found a compensation in the freshness and strength of the 

 virgin soils, and the yield of product under these conditions was as favorable in. weight as it lias been since under 

 more skillful and perfect modes, but was inferior in quality. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Kentucky is remarkably pleasant, though variable. The mean annual temperature is about 55 

 The thermometer often falls .to 20 in winter, and sometimes, though rarely, goes below zero; in summer it rises 

 to 90, and very rarely to 100. "Winter sometimes continues from late in November until the last of March, but 

 is often so mild that good grazing for cattle and sheep may be had throughout that period. The prevailing winds 

 in spring and summer are from the southwest; in winter, during the coldest periods, from the northwest. Rain is 

 very frequent in winter, but the summers are sometimes characterized by protracted droughts. Observations by the 

 signal service at Louisville from September 11, 1871, to October 31, 1880, show a mean average temperature for 

 the seasons as follows: Spring, 5G.1 degrees; summer, 77.4; autumn, 5G.9; winter, 37.3; average range, 50.9; highest 

 temperature recorded, 102; lowest, 10 below zero; mean of prevailing winds, south; mean annual precipitation, 

 48.30 inches. Observations at Springdale, in Mason county, the center of the White Burley tobacco district, for a 

 period of nearly 28 years, extending from July, 1841, to December, 1870, show : Mean average temperature spring, 

 53.20 degrees ; summer, 72.42; autumn, 54.G4; winter, 34.50; for the year, 53.71. Mean amount of precipitation for 

 24 years and 3 months of this period: Spring, 12.90 inches; sunmier, 13.40; autumn, 10.07; winter, 12.15; for the 

 year, 48.58. At Danville, observations for 12 years, to December, 1870, show an average temperature for the different 

 seasons as follows : Spring, 50.28 degrees; summer, 75.58; autumn, 58.5G ; winter, 37.84; average for the year, 57.07. 

 The average rainfall for 8 years, to December, 1SGG, for the seasons, was: Spring, 12.87 inches; summer, 12.7G; 

 autumn, 8.08; winter, 11.92 ; average for the year, 45.G3. 



TOBACCO DISTEICTS. 



There are eight tobacco -growing districts in Kentucky recognized by the trade, each having some peculiarities 

 of soil producing types more or less distinct. These districts are : 



I. Paducah, or western district, embracing the counties of Fulton, nickman, Graves, Ballard, McCracken, 

 Marshall, and Calloway. 



II. Ohio River district, embracing the conn ties of Livingston, Crittenden,Caldwcn,Lyon,nancock,Breckinridge, 

 and Meade, 'in two separate bodies, the Lower Green River district lying between them with its coal measures. 



III. Lower Green River district, embracing the counties of Ilenderson, Union, Daviess, Webster, Hopkins, 

 McLean, and Muhlenburgh ; resembling adjacent districts of Indiana and Illinois. 



IV. Green River district, embracing the counties of Butler and Ohio. 



V. Upper Green River district, embracing the counties of Barren, Warren, Ilardin, Grayson, Edmonson, Hart, 

 Green, La Rue, Marion, Taylor, and Allen. 



VI. Clarksville district, embracing the counties of Trigg, Christian, Todd, Logan, and Simpson, and seven 

 counties in Tennessee. 



VI J. Cumberland River district, embracing the counties of Metcalfe, Russell, Adair, Clinton, Cumberland, 

 Monroe, Casey, Wayne, and Pulaski. 



VIII. White Burley district, embracing what was formerly known as the Boone County district, the Mason 

 County district, the Pendleton County district, .and the Kentucky River district. The following counties are now 

 included in the White Burley district, though it is rapidly widening, and may soon embrace several other districts: 

 Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Pendleton, Bracken, Carroll, Owen, Harrison, Robertson, Mason, Lewis, 

 Fleming, Montgomery, Nicholas, Bourbon, Scott, Franklin, Ileury, Trimble, Oldham, Shelby, and Woodford. The 

 cultivation of the White Burley is even invading the blue-grass region of Fayette and the surrounding counties. 



PADUCAH, OE WESTERN DISTRICT. 

 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES, SOILS, AND TYPES OF TOBACCO. 



This whole district has been referred to the Tertiary formation, though there are strips lying on the Mississippi 

 and Ohio rivers which properly belong to the Quaternary, and a belt on the Tennessee river belonging to the 

 sub-Carboniferous. The soil, where sufliciently elevated to be well drained, is highly productive. Its physical 

 condition, in the main, is excellent, being very fine-grained, and much of it resembling in color and pulvcruleuce 

 a bed of ashes. 



Ballard county, which occupies the northwestern corner of the district, lias a deep vegetable loam, which rests, 



at variable depths, upon clay and sand. Parallel with the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers is a belt of timbered hind 



5 or G miles in width, the timber growth of which is black oak, white oak, tulip tree, hickory, maple, hackberry, 



elm, cypress, and beech. In the alluvial bottoms cottonwood and sweet gum abound, and tlie soil is black and 



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