60 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Of the wooded lauds of Trigg county 60 per cent, are adapted to the growth of tobacco ; of Todd couuty, 90 

 per cent. ; of Christian county, 80 per ceut. ; aud of Logan county, CO per cent. The forest area of the best tobacco 

 lands of this district is already so much reduced that no considerable acreage of "new ground" is now available 

 without such destruction of timber as could be justified only by absolute necessity. It is estimated that the average 

 production per acre is 10 per cent, less than for the decade ending with 1869. This holds good for all the other 

 cultivated crops, as well as for tobacco. 



In only two counties, Christian and Logan, is any estimate made of the proportion of tobacco lands exhausted 

 and turned out as old fields; in these counties it is stated as not exceeding 1 per cent. Laud so turned out 

 grows up quickly in briers, broom grass, sassafras, and persimmon, and is within a very few years restored to fair 

 productiveness. 



The methods adopted for maintaining fertility are much the same as those in use throughout the state. On level 

 lands tobacco occupies a given field one year, followed by wheat, seeded to clover, the clover turned down in the 

 fall of the third year, and the laud manured for tobacco, to be planted in the fourth year. This plan, with the 

 liberal use of manure, has proved quite successful. Some farmers h ave recently attempted to grow two crops of wheat, 

 alternating with tobacco every third year, but the result was not satisfactory. Careful observers, especially those 

 who have long occupied the better lands overlying the Saint Louis group, are of opinion that tobacco should not be 

 grown upon the same soils at shorter intervals than four years, and that the best rotation is as follows: First 

 year, tobacco, manured, the field sown in wheat in the fall of the same year ; second year, clover, seeded upon the 

 young wheat, lightly pastured in the fall ; third year, clover for mowing, and to be pastured off only in dry weather; 

 fourth year, clover, turned down in the fall, to be prepared in the spring for tobacco. Upon good soils some 

 planters have succeeded in growing fair crops of tobacco year after year upon the same fields by seeding to rye in the 

 fall, to be plowed under about the first of May. Stock pease are much used for green manuring, and are especially 

 valuable upon the lighter uplands. Bone-dust, land plaster, and some of the more prominent commercial fertilizers, 

 are used, but to a very limited extent. 



VARIETIES OF TOBACCO PEODUCED. 



Beside the varieties already described in the reports upon adjoining districts there are some of much local 

 reputation. The Burt makes a very large plant, coarse in stem, fiber, and web of leaf, ripens imperfectly, and when 

 of sufficient length is suitable for African shippers. The Clardy and the Thickset are described among the Varieties, 

 chapter II, pages 23, 24. The Morrow, which is a very old variety, makes a plant of full size. The leaf is of good 

 length and width, terminating very abruptly at the lower end, heavy, but rather coarse in stem and fiber, and makes 

 good German shippers when not too coarse. It is difficult to cure, and is consequently liable to house-barn ; ripens 

 slowly, and is not easily " wormed", because of the heavy ruffling upon the stalks and leaf stems. The Vick makes 

 a large plant, and has a narrow, bony, but heavy and thick leaf. The cured leaf is deficient in flexibility, is of no 

 decided character or quality, having no ruffling upon the stalk or stem, and is preferred for that reason, and because 

 it makes good yield of weight. The Tally is a local variety very similar to the Vick. The Little Yellow makes a 

 large plant, and has leaves of full length, but somewhat narrow, set well apart on the stalk, with very little ruffle. 

 The texture is heavy, with a moderately delicate stem and fiber, and makes good yield of weight. The plant is not 

 hardy, and is liable to field-fire and "speck". When not too heavy bodied or too narrow in leaf the Little Yellow 

 makes good Swiss wrappers; when sufficiently heavy aud well cured it tills a portion of the Austrian demand. It 

 is thought to be produced by cross-fertilization, as are also the Clardy and Burt varieties. 



The Orinoco, Blue and Yellow Pryors, and Beat-all, or Williams, are also grown in this district, and are generally 

 preferred. The high prices prevailing during the period of general inflation induced many planters to seek the 

 largest yield without reference to quality, resulting in diverse cross-fertilizations, and the consequent loss of distinctive 

 and characteristic varieties. Efforts are now made to reduce the number of varieties. Limited experiments have 

 been made in growing the White Burley, but with indifferent success. The two types made by the White Burley 

 and the heavy product of this district differ so widely that they cannot probably be profitably grown in the same 

 territory. 



COST OF LABOlt AND PRODUCTION. 



The labor system is very similar to that of other tobacco-growing districts of the state, except that a larger 

 proportion of the crop is made by hired labor. When tobacco is grown on the share system the employer furnishes 

 land, team, implements, barn, and fixtures, with house and fuel for the laborer aud his family, and gives the laborer 

 one-half of the product. Wage hands are paid an average of $125 per annum, with board. 



Barns cost from $50 to $300, with capacity for curing and storing from 2,000 to 15,000 pounds ; annual cost for 

 repairs, about 5 per cent. Tobacco-sticks cost from $3 to $4 per 1,000; one-horse plows, cost $5 ; breaking plows, 

 $12; harrows, from $5 to $15; hoes, from 75 cents to $1, with an average annual depreciation of value on all 

 implements of 10 per cent. 



The best lands in farms are worth $50 per acre, with a rental value of $6 per acre for tobacco lands producing 

 an average of 900 pounds, and the lowest grades of lands are valued at $10 per acre, with a rental value of $2 for 

 such as are capable of producing 400 pounds per acre. 



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