CULTURE AND CURING IN KENTUCKY. 49 



and narrow leaf, difficult to cure, of uniform color, and adapted for export purposes; Big Whig, leaf of light body, 

 cures a bright color, and is very showy in general appearance. 



Of the varieties Yellow Pryor is preferred, because its product is suitable for fillers for plug manufacturing 

 and for redrying in the leaf for shipment to England for cutting, and it is said to have more "chew" in it and a 

 better flavor than most other varieties. Blue and Henderson Pryor, Big Whig, and Lacks are used for strips, for 

 which purpose they are well suited, and also for supplying various export demands. Greenwood, One-sucker, 

 Twist-bud, and Long Green have no special adaptation, and pass into export stocks in the leaf. When handled and 

 cured with especial care a small proportion of the yield of these varieties finds a sale as fillers for manufacturing. 

 There is complaint, probably well founded, that no care is taken to preserve the purity of varieties ; that mixed 

 sorts have resulted, and that the difficulty of growing and curing any desired type or grade has been much 

 increased by this too common neglect. 



A growing disposition is manifested by planters, especially those of the eastern group of counties, to engage 

 in the cultivation of the White Burley, and the light types produced in this district are no longer sought for by 

 manufacturers. 



GEOLOGY AND SOILS. 



The soils of the whole of this district, with small exception, are derived from the Chester group of rocks, 

 which consist of alternate beds of impure or earthy limestones, shales, and sandstones. In the eastern group the 

 sandstones and shales are predominant as surface formations, imparting to the soils a siliceous character. In 

 this group is also found a part of the Carboniferous formation, extending over a considerable area of Hancock 

 county. In Breckinridge county there is a separate and distinct bed of coal, of a highly resinous character, and 

 resembling cannel coal, and also a large exposure of the Tar-spring sandstone, which forms the base of the Chester 

 group, and is the source of several noted "tar" springs. There are also beds of green and red marly shales, very 

 rich in potash and soda, the soils upon which are esteemed, as being finely adapted to the production of tobacco. 



The geology of the western group of counties is somewhat similar to that of the eastern, but more calcareous 

 and less siliceous. The soils of this block of counties may be divided into calcareous and siliceous, the former 

 occupying the lowlands and a small portion of uplands, while the latter is found exclusively on the higher lauds. 

 The calcareous soils vary in character as they are derived from the limestones of the Saint Louis or the Chester 

 group, aud the saudy soils differ as they are derived from the sandstones and shales of the Chester or the 

 Carboniferous group. The limestone lands consist of black loam, rich in vegetable mold, overlying a red-clay 

 subsoil. The freestone soils are of a yellowish or grayish color, upon a subsoil of yellow or blue clay; and when 

 resting upon a blue clay these sandy soils are of the poorest grade. 



The limestone soils may be divided into two classes: lowlands, consisting of Quaternary beds; and uplands, 

 consisting principally of outcroppiugs. The lowlands produce a type of heavy, coarse, large-leaved tobacco; the 

 uplands yield a product of finer fiber and texture, more compact in structure, but with smaller leaf. Where 

 the limestone uplands are derived from the Saint Louis group the soil is generally fertile aud strong, producing a 

 smooth and oily type; but the tobacco grown upon limestone soils derived from the Chester group has well-developed 

 stem and fiber, but is deficient in width of leaf, in weight, aud in supply of oils. The siliceous uplands produce the 

 light types. 



In Breckinridge and the other counties of the eastern group old lands of calcareous character, well manured, 

 are preferred for rich and heavy types, and new or freshly-cleared lands for the finer types of ligh't and colored 

 tobacco. The timber growth upon preferred lands consists of hickory, sugar-tree, dogwood, beech, black-jack, 

 hazel, white oak, and walnut. 



In Breckinridge county three-fourths of the tobacco crop is grown upon old lands and one-fourth on freshly- 

 cleared soils, and in Hancock county one-third upon old and two-thirds upon new lauds. In the first-named county 

 all the wooded lands are reported to be adapted to the growth of tobacco; in the latter the proportion is estimated 

 at 90 per cent. 



In the western section of this district the soils preferred for tobacco are limestone, with a timber growth of 

 black oak, hickory, dogwood, post oak, walnut, and gum. Two-thirds of the crop in Caldwell county is produced 

 upon limestone soils; in Crittenden, one-half; in Livingston, three-fifths. The proportion of freshly -cleared lands 

 occupied by tobacco is estimated at from 30 to 50 per cent. 



The rate of soil deterioration is variously estimated in different localities. One planter reports that "after 

 three years of continuous culture in tobacco the soil is considered useless for that or any other crop "; while another 

 insists that " tobacco does not impoverish land, and when followed by wheat the yield of the latter is much better". 

 Others place the rate of deterioration at from 5 to 33 per cent. The weight of evidence indicates that there is 

 throughout this section a tendency of the soils to deteriorate rapidly, except under careful management. A large 

 part of the general surface is abruptly broken. Lauds upon the Quaternary formation are acknowledged as of very 

 durable fertility. From 50 to 85 per cent, of the wooded lands of this section are considered adapted to the growth 

 of tobacco. 



Planters usually plan to follow tobacco with wheat seeded to clover. Sometimes rye is sown in the fall and 

 turned under in May following, or allowed to ripen and fall on the land, and this is said to reinstate the soil after 



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