46 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



and a thorough pulverization of the surface soil have been found of greatest benefit in enabling the tobacco plant 

 to resist the blighting e fleets of drought or of exceeding wet weather. 



^Marshall and Galloway counties, which occupy the eastern side of this district, may be considered together. 

 On the eastern edge of these counties is a fragmentary belt of the sub-Carboniferous rocks, and heds of marl are 

 frequent, interstratified with sands and clays of varying colors. In some portions there are areas of flat, wet lands, 

 corresponding with some portions of West Tennessee. Generally the soil is rich and loamy, witli a considerable 

 admixture of siliceous matter, which makes it very loose and light. Accumulations of whitish clay occur, and the soil 

 is then cold and unproductive. The belt lying along the Tennessee river is hilly, and in places rugged, with the 

 outcropping of the sub-Carboniferous limestones, and beds of chert, liberated by the dissolving of these limestones, 

 are common. Generally the soils in this belt are thin and unproductive, except where basins occur, or where the 

 alluvium of the river prevails. A very fine type of yellow tobacco, suitable for wrapping purposes, is grown upon 

 the sandy loams and gravelly ridges of these two counties, and shipping leaf, much resembling that grown in Graves 

 county, is produced on the richer soils. Of the two counties, Galloway produces more than twice as much tobacco 

 as Marshall, and has a larger area of fertile soils. The quantity of yellow tobacco made in Galloway is also far in 

 excess of that produced in Marshall, the latter county having a very limited area among the ridges adapted to its 

 growth. Marshall county, however, produces a long, red, light-bodied tobacco, suited for the French market. On 

 the generally level surface west of the broken area occupied by the Carboniferous rocks the timber is small and of 

 the same character as that which prevails in Graves county, but is much larger in the rugged region bordering the 

 Tennessee river, consisting of the varieties common to the river basins. 



A limited area in Graves, Ballard, McCracken, and Galloway counties produces about 33 per cent, of rich, 

 heavy, gummy tobacco, suited for the German market, and approximating closely the Glarksville type, but inclined 

 to higher colors. 



CLASSIFICATION OF TYPES. 



Probably no part of the United States grows a greater variety of types of tobacco than the district under 

 consideration, almost every sort demanded by foreign and domestic markets being produced, as classified in 

 chapter II. These classes are. as follows: 



German Shipper, to which only about 5 per cent, of the product belongs. 



Swiss Wrapper, grown on fertile uplands well manured. 



African, which may be grown on rich bottom soils, and includes about 20 per cent, of the product. 



German Saucer, which grows in greatest perfection on good rich second-year uplands without manures. 



Ifegie tobacco, which includes : I. French A, 15, G, chiefly grown in Marshall and Galloway counties ; II. Italian; 

 III. Spanish ; IV. Austrian, German Spinner, and manufacturing leaf, both fillers and wrappers, the latter varying 

 from lemon-yellow to very dark. 



There has been very little change in the types of product during the past ten years, but probably the nondescript 

 has been reduced to some extent, and the yellow or bright wrapper increased. The following will approximate the 

 proportions of each grade for the district: 



Per cent. 



Dark ami ret] shipping - 35 



FillcrH, sun- auil iiir-eureil 20 



TSriglit wrappers > 



Cutting .: K' 



Nomli*cript - 25 



The constancy of the proportion of types is due mainly to the large quantity of new land cultivated in tobacco, 

 fully one-third of the crop being planted upon virgin soil, a third on land which has grown only one crop, and the 

 remainder upon manured lots. 



VALUE OF THE CROP. 



The prices received by planters have a very wide range, from $2 per hundred for inferior lugs to $40 per 

 hundred for fine bright wrapper. The average price received by the farmers is placed by a good authority at $5 

 per hundred. Mr. T. II. Purycar, of Paducah, who has feept a record of the receipts and prices at that point since 

 1875, furnishes the following statement, which will fairly represent the prices received by a large majority of tun 

 planters : 



640 



