CULTURE AND CURING IN KENTUCKY. 47 



The 'lost to the planter of inspecting and selling on the Paducah market is $1 50 per hogshead. Out of the 

 tobacco now raised in the district domestic manufacturers take only a part of the sun- and air-cured fillers and 

 some of the bright wrappers. 



STRIPS. 



It is estimated by a large dealer that 5 per cent, of the total product grown in the Paducah district is made 

 into strips for the European market. The great development of leaf attained by the tobacco plant on the rich 

 lowlands and the deep brown colors produced on the upland bottoms, and, above all, the spongy nature of the 

 leaf when grown in such situations, admirably fit it for making strips. 



Two establishments for making strips are in operation in this district: one at Paducah, which made about 380 

 hogsheads in 1879, and one at Hazlewood, which made 75 hogsheads, making the total product 455 hogsheads, 

 requiring about 825,000 pounds of tobacco in the stem to produce 500,000 pounds of strips, there being an estimated 

 loss from taking out the midrib of 33 per cent., and the loss from weight between the condition in which it ia 

 received from the planter and the condition in which it is prized as strips is placed at from 5 to 10 per cent. The 

 loss from taking out the stem, however, is variable. If the tobacco is long and broad, with small stems, the loss 

 does not exceed 25 per cent., but should the leaves of the tobacco be narrow and of light texture, with large stems, 

 the loss may even exceed 40 per cent. 



The price paid for stemming varies from 40 to 50 cents per hundred pounds of strips made. An active man 

 or woman may make from 250 to 300 pounds of strips a day in large leafy stock; the average, probably, is under 

 200 pounds. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



Nothing can be more unsatisfactory than the conflicting and often irreconcilable differences in the estimates 

 made of the cost of production. Differences in the soil, in the labor employed, and in the distance from market 

 complicate the question. Comparing estimates, it appears that the average cost of growing the crop for this 

 district is not far from $4 per hundred pounds on the best lauds, and from $5 to $G on inferior tobacco soils. Three 

 acres are usually allotted to each hand, and the average yield per 'acre for the district is 739 pounds, or 2,217 pounds 

 to the hand. The price of labor is $ 12 per month the year round, and by the day 75 cents. The following will 

 give an idea of the profits of farming in this district, though it is difficult to estimate the actual cost of producing 

 the tobacco crop : 



DR. 



Wages of one man and board ibr year $200 00 



Rent often acres of land for wheat, at $3 30 00 



Rent of fifteen acres of land for corn, at $3 45 00 



Kent of three acres for tobacco, at $4 12 00 



Use of team and feed for same 50 00 



Use of barns and tools 15 00 



Total 352 QO 



CB. 



By 2,217 pounds of tobacco, at $5 110 85 



By 120 bushels of wheat, at gl 120 00 



By GOO bushels of corn, at 30 cents 180 00 



Total 410 85 



Profit on one hand 58 85 



In this statement the expense account is charged with the actual rent of the land, and not merely with the 

 interest on value. The best tobacco lands in the district may be bought at a price not exceeding $25 to $30 per 

 acre, and for such as will give the average yield the prices range at from $18 to $20 per acre. 



Planters frequently have tobacco and other crops raised on "shares", receiving one-third for the use of the 

 land alone, or one-half when they furnish all except the labor. If the landlord furnishes rations to the cropper 

 and his family, they become a charge against the tenant's share of the crop. 



The varieties of tobacco cultivated, and the methods of curing and handling adopted, have not been such as 

 to give the product a high character, either at home or abroad. Old habits of raising a shipping leaf cured with 

 smoke and fire are difficult to surmount, and, as a consequence, the cultivation of tobacco cannot be said to be 

 remunerative. One danger demands notice. The looseness of the soil, while making it easy of tillage, makes it 

 also easy to wash. Fields are cultivated for a few years and often abandoned, to be furrowed with gullies, down 

 which the soil is carried with every rain. Many of these scarified old fields, growing up in persimmon and 

 sassafras sprouts, may be seen in passing through the country. When these gullies have once cut through the 

 thin loamy bed of the surface and reached the stratum of sand or gravel beneath their destructive power is 

 almost unlimited. A little attention at first checks them. 



41 AG 641 



