58 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 

 Upon good soils, of fair productive capacity, the following: result may be obtained under skillful management: 



Cost of labor, one man, one year, with board $200 00 



Wear and tear of implements and fixtures 20 00 



Use of team, and feed for same 65 00 



Rent of 15 acres wheat land, at $2 50 37 50 



Rent of 15 acres com land, at $3 45 00 



Rent of 3 acres tobacco land, at 86 18 00 



385 50 



Average product of tobacco by one laborer, 2,000 pounds, at 5 cents 100 00 



Average product of wheat, 200 bushels, at 75 cents 150 00 



Average product of corn, 450 bushels, at 30 cents 135 00 



3a r > 00 



Results as favorable as those here estimated have been frequently obtained upon good lands with average 

 seasons, but in far the greater number of instances the cost of producing tobacco must exceed 5 cents per pound. 

 A large part of the lands of this district do not admit of raising a variety of crops iu such amounts as to be 

 profitable. On such lands the production of tobacco is maintained because the labor employed is that of the 

 farmer and his family. 



In the following statement the weight of product in the Upper Green River district for the first three years is 

 obtained from official returns to the auditor of Kentucky. For 1879 the production, acreage, and yield per acre are 

 obtained from the returns made to the United States Census Bureau. The rest of the statement is estimated: 



THE CLARKSVILLE DISTRICT. 



Tobacco culture in that part of the Clarksville tobacco distrust lying south of the Kentucky line is described in 

 the chapter on Tennessee. 



In Kentucky the territory is a wide and continuous water-shed, from which the drainage is canned into the 

 Cumberland river by a number of small streams, with narrow channels and high, rocky banks. Its general surface 

 is level, or rolling in long, low curves, with some small and narrow belts of broken country. The Cumberland river 

 cuts through the western part of Trigg county, the Louisville and Memphis railway passes through Logan and Todd 

 counties, the Saint Louis and Southeastern railway through Christian and Todd, and the Louisville and Nashville 

 railway through Simpson county, affording good facilities for transportation. 



There is much uniformity in type, and almost the entire product is characterized by heaviness and firmness of 

 texture, strength and elasticity, oily consistency, and general smoothness of structure, with moderate delicacy of 

 fiber and stem, and may be considered as one leading line of types. 



By its peculiar permanent qualities the Clarksville product meets a very wide range of demands. Some of 

 these are so established in character that in chapter II they have been described under the following types: Fine- 

 fibered Clarksville Wrapper, Clarksville and Missouri dark and red, Italian Regie A and B, French types A and B, 

 Austrian Regie, German Saucer, Snuff Leaf and Lugs, German Spinner, Swiss Wrapper, Dutch Saucer, Belgian 

 Cutter, African Shippers, and Mexican Wrappers. 



In the northern part of the district, on the line of juncture between the Saint Louis and the Carboniferous 

 formations, is produced a type of light body, somewhat resembling the lighter types of the Lower Green River district. 

 This to some extent is used for domestic manufacturing purposes, as fillers, but it is of low grade. 



The richest and most oily lugs are used in the United States for grinding into common snuff; the leafy lugs, 

 of less weight of body, are used for cutting into common smoking-tobacco. In Germany the former grade is used 

 for fillers in spinning, and in both Germany and Spain for the manufacture of common snuff; the latter grade is 

 used in France, Spain, and Italy for binders and fillers for common cigars, and those of least substance and of fair 

 quality for granulation for fillers for cigarettes. Decayed or damaged lugs are used for slieep-.wash. 



The tobacco product of this district has a wider range of adaptation to purposes of a high grade than that of 

 any other section of the state, as it is susceptible of being cured into such diversity of color. 



During the past ten years marked changes in the quality of the general product have taken place. In Todd 



