CULTURE AND CURING IN KENTUCKY. 59 



county the proportion of dark shipping in 1879 is reported to have decreased considerably. In Christian county 

 the following estimate is made: Dark shipping, 40 per cent, in 1879, 25 per cent in 1809; fillers, 25 per cent, in 

 1879, 25 per cent, in 1SG9; cigar leaf, 5 per cent, in 1879, 10 per cent, in 18(59; bright wrappers and smokers, none 

 in 1879, 25 per cent, in 18C9; nondescript, 30 per cent, in 1879, 15 per cent, in 18G9. It is claimed, however, that 

 this estimate is for a given locality, and does not fairly represent the product of the whole county. 



The only improvement is reported from Trigg county, where the product is said to be heavier and cleaner and 

 the general quality somewhat better than ten years ago. Dealers who have handled the crops of this district for the 

 past, ten years agree in opinion that there has been a marked decline in the general standard of quality, and it is a 

 recogni/ed fact that the average deterioration of quality has been more marked than in most of the other districts 

 of the state, amounting in Logan .and Christian counties to from 10 to 25 per cent. 



GEOLOGY AND SOIL FORMATIONS. 



The whole surface of lhis,district is situated upon the Saint Louis group of rocks belonging to the sub-Carboniferous 

 formation (and mostly upon the cavernous member of this group), with the exception of a narrow belt of the Keokuk 

 group on its southern and western border and of coal-bearing strata upon its northern line. The western half of 

 Trigg and the southeastern part of Simpson lie upon the Keokuk group, which also underlies a narrow strip on the 

 southern lines of Logan, Todd. and Christian counties. The northern parts of Todd and Christian counties are 

 situated upon the Carboniferous, and the hills in the northern part of Logan are capped with members of the Chester 

 group. 



The soils of this district, having these diverse sources of formation, vary in character and capacity. Wherever 

 situated upon the Saint Louis group, a deep bed of clay rests upon the underlying rock, overlaid by a surface soil, 

 in some places of a very deep-red color, and in others a light or pale red. The darker soils are lighter and of looser 

 texture than the light-colored soils, and are of superior fertility. The lands on this formation are covered with a 

 timber growth of black-jack, red oak, post oak, hickory, and gums of small size, with an undergrowth of hazel and 

 dogwood. Originally very fertile, these soils have maintained the production of tobacco of superior excellence 

 until recently. 



The soils lying upon the Keokuk group are rather stiff and compact upon a foundation of pale-red clay. They 

 cover a surface of gravelly and cherty ridges, and the prevailing tree growth is of large size, consisting mostly of 

 red oak, with a few poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera), white oaks, elms, and gums, with an undergrowth of dogwood. 

 Tobacco grown upon these soils has less breadth of leaf, less fatness and oils, not so much strength and elasticity, 

 is not so heavy, and has less tendency to cure into full dark and brown colors than that grown upon the Saint 

 Louis group. The frame (stem and fibers) of the leaf is coarser in proportion to the weight and body of web with 

 which it is filled. 



There are in Christian county three distinct bodies of land upon the Saint Louis group, producing three 

 distinct qualities of tobacco. One of these is a rich and strong barren soil, with a scrubby growth of black, red, and 

 post oak and hickory, upon which is made an oily and fat tobacco of very heavy texture, well suited to the higher 

 grades of German demand. Another consists of a small area of level land, somewhat lower than the general 

 surface, inclined to be marshy and wet, with a soil of dark color upon a foundation of stiff and tenacious yellow clay, 

 producing a leaf of rather light weight, very silky, of delicate fiber, and specially fitted for use as Swiss wrappers. 

 The third consists of an area of ridgy surface, with a soil of a grayish-brown color upon a subsoil of red clay, and 

 with a timber growth of black and red oaks and scattering poplars, walnut, and hickory. This soil is sandy, and lies 

 upon a margin adjacent to the coal-bearing strata. Its product is specially adapted for dark wrappers. 



The type of tobacco for which this district is particularly noted is groAvn in highest perfection upon the soils 

 of the eastern part of Trigg and the southern part of Christian, Todd, and Logan counties, where the original growth 

 seems to have been a dense covering of barren grass (Andropogon scoparius and A.furcatus), succeeded by hazel. 



In the eastern part of Logan and in Simpson county the peculiar characteristics of the type are lost to a large 

 extent in a product of coarser quality, with less supply of oils and fatness. Here the soils are more compact, of a 

 pale brown or darker color, upon a subsoil of no great depth above the bed-rock. These soils are more -siliceous 

 than those with which they are compared, nor have they the full red color which distinguishes the best tobacco 

 soils of Christian and other counties. 



There are some areas of Quaternary along the water-lines of this district very little used for the culture of 

 tobacco. When grown upon such soils the product is very coarse. 



The marginal areas in this district lying upon the Chester and Carboniferous groups are small and unimportant, 

 and the types of tobacco produced upon them are scarcely recognized as a part of the crop of the Clarksville district. 



The best lands are always selected for the growth of tobacco, the older lands being kept in permanent lots for 

 this purpose and maintained in fertility by manuring and a system of rotation. Where available, small additions 

 of freshly-cleared land are added to the tobacco-fields every year. The proportion of new lands is, however, steadily 

 decreasing. In Christian county one acre of fresh land to fifty of old laud is cultivated each year. In Logan 

 county one-fifth of the land devoted to tobacco culture is estimated as fresh land ; that is, such land as has been 

 cleared but a few years, and is capable of producing a fair yield without manures. 



