48 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The following statement exhibits the total product of the Paducah, or western district, for the years 1876, 1877, 

 and 1878; also the total product and acreage for 1879. The table is mainly from returns to the state auditor, and 

 only the figures for 1879 are from census returns : 



Founds. 



Product iu 1876 11,538,036 



Product in 1877 21,395,381 



Product in 1878 9,664,497 



Product in 1879 20,843,497 



Acreage in 1879 28,205 



Average yield per acre in 1879 739 



THE OHIO RIVER DISTRICT. 

 TOPOGEAPHY. 



Most of this district is very broken in surface, has but a small extent of level area, and the two sections are 

 very much alike in topography. The northern border of the eastern group of counties and the northern and part 

 of the western liue of the western group are skirted by the Ohio river. The Cumberland river runs through 

 Lyon and Livingston counties of the latter group, and the Elizabethtown and Paducah railway passes through 

 its southern end. These natural and artificial highways afford convenient facilities for transportation. 



TYPES OF TOBACCO PRODUCED. 



In the eastern group the most decided types are of light body; in the western counties the larger part of the 

 product is heavy-bodied tobacco. In Breckiuridge county especially, and to a smaller extent in Hancock and 

 Meade counties, the light leaf has been highly valued as fillers for chewing plug, but has recently lost value on 

 account of changes in the tastes and requirements of manufacturers and consumers. This type is of moderately 

 light body, of delicate fiber and texture, of sweet flavor, and of clear bright or red colors, and a very small 

 proportion is suitable for bright wrappers, or for fine-cut chewing or the higher grades of smoking tobacco. 



The heavy types of tobacco grown in this section of the Ohio Eiver district are the product of alluvial lands, 

 or of strong uplands heavily manured. They want smoothness of texture, but are more oily and waxy and less 

 spongy than the same types produced in the Lower Green Eiver district, and have about the same general adaptation, 

 being largely used for making strips, and, to some extent, are available for supplying the demands of the French 

 and the Italian governments. 



In Breckinridge county 10 per cent, of the product is classed as dark shipping, 30 per cent, fillers, 5 per cent, 

 bright wrappers, 5 per cent, cutting, and 5 per cent, nondescript, with but little variation iu these proportions 

 during the last ten years. 



Of the product of Hancock county for 1879, 33 per cent, is dark shipping, 20 per cent, fillers, 20 per cent, 

 cutting, and 27 per cent, nondescript; and of the crop of 1869 there was 20 per cent, dark shipping, 10 per cent, 

 fillers, 10 per cent, cutting, and 60 per cent, nondescript. 



In Meade county the crop of 1879 contained a larger proportion of nondescript than either of the two counties 

 above named. 



In the western group both light and heavy tobaccos are grown, the latter predominating. The heavy tobacco 

 of this section is coarse and rough in texture and fiber, with only a moderate supply of oils, and furnishes a very 

 small proportion of stock for manufacturing or for the better export types. A small part of the product is available 

 to supply the demands of the French and Italian governments, but the bulk of this heavy tobacco is of low grade, 

 and finds its way to inferior markets. This group of counties produces a tobacco of lighter body, a small proportion 

 of which is suitable for plug fillers, for bright wrappers, and fine smokers, but of quality somewhat inferior to 

 that of the similar types grown in the eastern counties of the district. 



Of the crop grown in Crittenden county in 1879 the proportion of dark shipping is estimated at 25 per cent. ; of 

 fillers, 10 per cent. ; and of nondescript, 65 per cent. Of the crop of 1869 40 per cent, was dark shipping, 12 per 

 cent, fillers, and 48 per cent, nondescript. 



Of the crop in Lyon county in 1879 there was 40 per cent, dark shipping, 20 per cent, fillers, 10 per cent, 

 bright wrappers, 5 per cent, cutting, and 25 per cent, nondescript. In 1869 the proportions were : Dark shipping, 

 30 per cent. ; fillers, 30 per cent.; bright wrappers, 15 per cent. ; cutting, none ; and nondescript, 25 per cent. 



So far as can be ascertained, the average of the classification given for Crittenden and Lyon counties will very 

 nearly describe the product of the other two counties of this section. 



VARIETIES OF TOBACCO PEODUCED. 



Most of the varieties grown in this district are common to the state. There are some local varieties, among 

 which are the Lacks, of heavy weight, well colored, broad leaf, of fine fiber, and a strong grower; Greenwood, long 

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