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TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The estimated values of the several grades of the product of 1879 are: For trash 50 cents to $1 per hundred; 

 for lugs, $2 to $4 ; for leaf, $4 to $8. That portion of the crop sold to stemmers at Henderson realized an average 

 price around of about $4 35 per hundred pounds. This was mainly heavy shipping tobacco. The better and lighter 

 product was sold at higher prices, making the average value of the crop of the district about $5 per hundred. 



Commercial fertilizers are used to a very limited extent, with favorable results generally reported. Farm-yard 

 and stable manures are carefully saved, and are used by the better farmers almost exclusively upon the lauds 

 planted in tobacco. 



The damage to the quality of the crop of 1879, attributable to various causes, was: From green cutting, 20 per 

 cent. ; house-burn, 20 per cent. ; stem-rot, 12 per cent. ; worm-eaten, 10 per cent. By house burn and stein-rot the 

 damage to this crop was exceptionally large. 



In the following statement material for the first three years is obtained from official returns made to the auditor 

 of Kentucky. The production and yield per acre for 1879 are derived from official returns made to the United States 

 Census Bureau : 



THE GREEN RIVER DISTRICT. 



This district occupies a small area between the Upper and the Lower Green River districts. The surface of the 

 country is much broken, a very small proportion of the lands being level or moderately rolling. The slack water 

 navigation of Green river and the Elizabethtown and Paducah railway furnish transportation at all seasons of the 

 year. 



The types grown, both of heavy and of light tobacco, are closely related to those of the Upper and the Lower 

 Green Eiver districts. The heavy tobaccos are coarser and less oily than those of the upper district, and less 

 flexible, not so smooth, and of less absorptive capacity than those of the lower district. They are of coarse fiber 

 and stem, stiff and starchy, and usually of narrow leaf. This is especially true of the product grown upon the 

 Chester group of rocks. That grown upon the Quaternary soils has a larger and wider leaf, but is otherwise equally 

 coarse and harsh. These heavy tobaccos, especially those grown in Butler county, are of lower quality than the 

 related grades of the same type grown in adjoining districts, and the larger part of the product falls into the 

 nondescript class. The light types are approximations to similar types of the two adjacent districts, having less 

 delicacy of structure than those of the Upper, and less absorptive capacity than those of the Lower Green River 

 country. These lighter types furnish a very small proportion of bright wrappers of common grade, a few packages 

 of bright smokers, and a moderate amount of fillers for plug chewing. 



Little attention has been paid to the selection of varieties. The characteristics of the crops of this territory 

 are narrowness, coarseness, and roughness of leaf. 



Green River district is occupied by two distinct geological formations : the Carboniferous and the Chester 

 groups and the limestones of the Saint Louis group. Butler county is about equally divided between these two 

 formations, while Ohio county lies more largely upon the Carboniferous, having a narrow belt of the Chester group 

 upon its eastern border. In both of these counties there is a general thinning out and termination of the coal 

 measures, while the Chester group appears with its alternating beds of sandstone, shale, and limestone. 



Upon the Saint Louis limestones the soils consist of loose, light loam upon a subsoil of red clay; upon the 

 Carboniferous formation are light-colored loams, resting upon a compact and tenacious yellow clay ; and upon 

 the Chester group are thin, grayish loams, upon a subsoil of blue clay. There are considerable areas of alluvial 

 soils along the water-courses, consisting of deep, dark loams upon a foundation of red clay. The growth upon the 

 alluvials is made up of heavy oaks, poplars, walnut, and elm; 'upon the Chester, white and red oaks; and upon the 

 Carboniferous, mostly scrubby oak and hickory. The types grown upon the Carboniferous soils are of a light, delicate, 

 and porous structure, of mild and sweet flavor, with very little gum and oils; upon the Chester they are stiff, harsh, 

 and coarse, with somewhat more of gum and oils; and upon the Quaternary they are largo and coarse, with a long 

 and broad leaf of porous texture, heavy fiber and stem, and of strong and pungent flavor. 



The surface overlying the Carboniferous system is much the largest in extent; that occupied by the Chester is 

 the next in extent; the Quaternary is of limited area; and the Saint Louis so small as not to be worth estimating. 

 Much of the soil of the district is very tender under cultivation, and is liable to severe damage by surface washing. 



The proportion of lands abandoned as exhausted is small. Rotation of crops is not much practiced. The 

 Carboniferous soils are easily tilled and produce freely, and on that account are more heavily taxed by continuous 



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