80 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



tobacco iu Owen, Peridletou, and other contiguous counties, may be bought at prices ranging from $20 to $50 per 

 acre, and inferior lands at about one-half these figures, the higher prices being for lands well improved and favorably 

 situated. Keuts are very much higher in proportion than lands. An acre of good tobacco land, capable of 

 producing 800 pounds to the acre, will readily rent for $12, while land producing 1,000 to 1,500 pounds will bring 

 from $18 to $20 per acre. 



Wages throughout the most populous portion of the district for farm hands by the year range from $10 to $15 

 per month and board, the former price being paid for boys from nfteen to eighteen years of age, and the latter price for 

 well-trained men. By the day, in summer, the price paid for the same character of labor is 75 cents and $1. On, 

 the outskirts of the tobacco-growing district the price for grown men by the year is $140 and board; by the day, 

 75 cents. Those working "on shares" receive the same proportion of the crop as elsewhere in the southern states. 



Strippers receive 75 cents per day, and packers and prizers $1. Hogsheads are worth from $1 75 to $2 25, 

 varying according to the convenience of timber and the kind employed. 



Every important county has from three to eight redrying houses, in which local dealers receive the tobacco. 

 from the planters in wagons and prize it for market. Louisville and Cincinnati are the chief markets. 



The only strips made in the district are put up at Carrolltou, at the mouth of the Kentucky river. Two 

 hundred and sixty thousand pounds of White Burley were made into strips at this point, which netted 75 percent, 

 of strips, a nnich larger percentage than is made from the heavier leaf at Henderson and at Oweusboro', in the 

 Lower Green River district. A few strips from White Burley are also made at Louisville for the English trade, the 

 quantity, however, being inconsiderable, on account of the high prices of the leaf. 



The light green of the White Burley leaf, approximating the color of the horn-worm, makes the task of worming 

 somewhat more difficult than in other portions of the state. The greatest damage sustained by the tobacco of this 

 district, however, is from house-burn, and from the imperfect protection afforded by open barns against harsh winds 

 and drifting rains, inducing a very injurious mold. 



The extraordinary increase in the production of this type of tobacco has outstripped the means provided for its 

 proper protection while it is curing. 



Screw prizes are used by local dealers, costing generally from $50 to $100, and beam prizes, such as are described 

 in the chapter on Tennessee, are of frequent use among planters. 



Pew farming districts in the United States show a more general thrift than the region under consideration. 

 There are but few private debts, and a manifest desire has been awakened among farmers to improve their estates 

 by the erection of better houses aud barns, and to preserve the fertility of the soil by a proper rotation of crops and 

 by more judicious cultivation. 



The following statement exhibits the total product and ac reage of tobacco in the White Burley district for the 

 years 1876 to 1879, and the average yield per acre for the latter year, only those for 1879 being from census returns: 



rounds. 



Product in 1876. :.!0, !)09, 43;j 



1877 -24,356,870 



1878 -23, 90ti, 25:! 



1879 46,862,687 



Acreage, 1879 ">:?, 474 



Average yield per acre, 1879 ,S70. 3<i 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 CULTURE AND CURING OF TOBACCO IN LOUISIANA. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



Tobacco, rice, and indigo were the principal staple productions of Louisiana a hundred and sixty years ago. 

 Aboutthe time of the settlement of New Orleans the " Western Company " introduced the cultivation of the plant, and 

 some quantity was grown as early as 1718. In 1752 its culture was encouraged by the ofl'er of the royal government 

 of France to receive into the king's warehouse all the tobacco raised in the province at the rate of 30 livres 

 equal to $7 per hundred weight. The same encouragement was extended by the Spanish authorities in 1770. A 

 greater impetus was given to its production in 1793 and 1794 in consequence of the ravages of insects upon the 

 indigo plant, which was now abandoned for the more certain crops of sugar, rice, and tobacco. Only a limited 

 area, however, was at that period planted in sugar-cane, and, as large capital was necessary for its production, 

 many years passed before sugar became the distinguishing staple of the state. In the mean time the production 

 of rice and of tobacco continued to increase. In 1802, 2,000 hogsheads of tobacco were exported from New Orleans, 

 and its culture had become g-eneral all along the river as far up as Natchez, at least for domestic consumption. 

 674 



