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TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



one crop of tobacco. The available supply of farm manures is too small to afford extensive help in the work of sou 

 recuperation; small grains, clover, the grasses, and sometimes "rest", by suffering a growth of weeds, bushes, and 

 briers, are the methods in general use. 



INSECT ENEMIES AND DISEASES. 



The flea- beetle is probably not so troublesome as in other sections of the country less broken in surface and 

 not so heavily wooded. The cut-worm, horn-worm, and some species of grasshoppers are common. " Trenching" 

 is reported to prevail under conditions which favor it. "Fire" is not complained of to serious extent, the surface 

 configuration of the district being such as to afford ready means of drainage. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



No reports were made from either section of this district as to the value of tobacco lands, cost of labor, etc. 

 It may be assumed, however, that the estimates already made for the Paducah district will apply very nearly to 

 that of the Ohio river. 



VALUE OF THE CEOP OF 1879. 



In Hancock county the average value is stated as $4 50 per hundred pounds, with dark shipping at $3 50 and 

 the light types at $5. In Breckinridge county the average value is estimated at $C, with trash at $2 ; lugs, $2 50 to 

 $4 ; dark leaf, $4 25 to $5 ; good leaf, $5 50 to $8 ; and colored leaf, $9 to $12. In Lyon county the average value 

 is estimated at $4. In Crittenden, lugs, nondescript, $1 50 to $2 ; good lugs, $3 to $4 50 ; common leaf, $3 50 to 

 $4 50 ; good leaf, $5 to $7 ; and what is known as cutting leaf, $5 to $12. In Caldwell county, the average is 

 estimated at $4 75, and in Livingston county at $4 50. 



GENERAL FACTS AND STATISTICS. 



The manures used in this district are always applied upon old lands, and are almost entirely the product of the 

 stable and the barn-yard, used both in the hill and broadcast. Commercial fertilizers are used to some extent, 

 almost exclusively in the hill, about an ounce to each plant ; from three to four hundred pounds per acre in the 

 few instances where employed broadcast. Of domestic manures, that from the stable is usually applied in the hill, 

 and the coarser material from the barn-yard is spread broadcast. In Breckinridge county about 1 per cent, of the 

 tobacco land is fertilized with commercial manures, the results being of uncertain character. In Hancock county 

 about 20 per cent, of the area cultivated in tobacco is manured from the stable and the farm-yard, at an average 

 cost of $6 per acre, producing an increase of 60 percent, in yield, with a large improvement in quality where heavy 

 body is desired. In Lyon county about one- third of the tobacco acreage is fertilized with domestic manures, 

 increasing the yield about 50 per cent., but making a coarser product. In Crittendeu county manures are used on 

 one-fifth of the tobacco land ; these consist of stable manure, bone dust, and " Homestead Tobacco Grower", and 

 are estimated to increase the yield one-third, with 50 per cent, improvement in quality. In Caldwell county about 

 one-fourth of the tobacco is manured with domestic and commercial fertilizers, at a cost of from $3 to $5 per acre, 

 resulting in an'increase of one-fourth in yield, with improvement in weight and supply of oils iu the cured product. 

 In Livingston county two-thirds of the surface is manured with stable and lot manure, a shovelful being applied to 

 each hill, at a nominal cost, producing one-third increase in yield, with larger size and weight of plant. 



The average yield per acre of the crop of 1879 in this district was estimated at 720 pounds, and the damage to the 

 quality of the crop from different causes was estimated as follows : Green cutting, 10 per cent.; house-burn, 14 per 

 cent.; stem-rot, 10 per cent.; worm-eaten, 2 per cent. These estimates were made before the crop was marketed, 

 and may admit of material modification since its full delivery. Mold forming on the cured leaf produced greater 

 loss than any other form of injury. 



The following statement shows the production, acreage, yield per acre, value of crop in farmers' hands or in 

 primary markets, value per pound, and value per acre of the tobacco crops in the Ohio River district. The 

 production for the years 1876, 1877, 1878 is obtained from official returns made to the auditor of Kentucky, and 

 that for 1879 is from returns made to the Census Bureau : 



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