B2 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IX THE UNITED STATES. 



THE PEHiaUE TOBACCO DISTRICT. 



There are two principal centers in Saint James parish around which the Perique tobacco is grown and prepared 

 for market. One of these lies immediately upon the Mississippi river, the post-village, Convent, being about the 

 middle of the belt. On each side of this place the land is divided into small farms, each with a frontage of a few 

 hundred feet on the river, and running back so as to embrace 10 or 12 acres. Only about 12 arpents were 

 cultivated near Convent and 05 at Grande Pointe in 1879. A considerable quantity of the tobacco grown around 

 Convent is used in the manufacture of cigars, but its texture and flavor are not equal to that grown on the elevated 

 lands beyond the swamps. This is owing, no doubt, to the stiller nature of the soil and to the hurtful influence 

 of the coco-grass or nut-grass (Cyperus rotimtlua, var. hydra), which no amount of labor can destroy. 



Grande Pointe, already mentioned, is famous for the excellence of its Perique tobacco. It occupies an insular 

 position beyond the swamps, and is about 3 miles from the Mississippi river. The river in its course, after leaving 

 Convent, runs east, which makes Grande Pointe lie to the north. The land of this vacherie is owned by fifteen 

 proprietors, fourteen of whom own 12 acres each, and the remaining one about 50 acres, making in all 218 acres. 

 A dense growth of cane and lofty trees, hanging with tufted mosses, surrounds the settlements. Red oak, 

 cottonwood, ash, black gum, persimmon, live oak, sassafras (which is here a tree in size), and magnolia are found 

 growing on elevations of from 3 to 5 feet above the swamps which surround the place. Cypress trees abound in 

 the swamps and on the oozy lands which girdle the swamps. 



The first settlement made at this point was in 1824. The laud was divided into small holdings, and has been 

 cultivated every year since. The amount cultivated in tobacco at present is (it acres, or about 77 arpents an 

 arpent being 4,088 square yards, or nearly five-sixths of an English acre. The amount raised in this locality does not 

 exceed 20,000 pounds in any one year; for the year 1879 it was 14,080 pounds. The whole crop of Pcrique tobacco 

 grown in Louisiana is not over 48,000 pounds, that grown at Grande Poiute making usually five-twelfths of the 

 whole; and yet the Perique tobacco is known throughout the markets of America and of Europe. About three- 

 fourths of the product of the state is made into Perique rolls; the remainder is used in the leaf. 



PECULIARITIES OF THE PERIQUE TOBACCO. 



Seed from Kentucky or from Tennessee makes a tobacco too rich and too large to cure well, but if sown for 

 several years in succession it gradually assumes the type of that grown from the native seed. The old Perique has 

 a fine fiber, medium leaf, and small stems. It is strong, rich, gummy, tough, and dark, with a shining luster, and 

 when taken from the presses its glossy appearance is strikingly beautiful. Because of its strength, it is largely 

 intermixed with milder kinds and made into smoking-tobacco and cigarettes, and by those accustomed to it it is 

 sought for chewing purposes. 



GRADES OF PRODUCT. 



There is a material variation in the quality of this variety of tobacco grown on different soils. When grown 

 on a sandy loam, it has the delightful aroma so much prized, and this aroma decreases in strength as the amouut 

 of clay in the soil is increased. There are three grades into which it is made : 



1. Robe, or the most perfect leaves, which are used for wrappers, constitutes 10 per cent, of the crop. 



2. Good leaf, which forms the fillers for chewing-tobacco. The proportion of this grade is about 50 per cent. 



3. Smokers, which amount to 40 per cent, of the crop, and are made out of the lower leaves, which are usually 

 bespattered with dirt. 



The proportion of good tobacco has decreased during the past decade, owing to the great reduction in the price 

 of the Perique. Ten years ago a carptte of 4 pounds brought in the market from $5 to $10, according to the grade; 

 but the same can now be bought for less than $2, with 64 cents deducted for tax, to which Perique tobacco, by the 

 decision of the commissioner of internal revenue, is subject. This has had such a depressing effect that the tobacco 

 area in the Perique region is constantly diminishing, (a) 



DECREASE OF TOBACCO PRODUCT AND CAUSES. 



The acreage of the tobacco crop of 1879, as compared with that of 187G, shows a decrease of 40 per cant. ; with 

 1877, of 50 per cent. ; with 1878, of 33 per cent. The yield per acre, however, in 1879 was greater than in 1878, but 

 10 per cent, less than in 1876 and 1877. The crop of 1879 had twice as much good tobacco as that of 1878, but of 

 much thie same quality as the crops of 1876-'77. While the amount produced per acre has probably been increased 

 during the past decade, in comparison with the decade preceding, it is not managed so nicely as it was when prices 

 were higher. At one time every leaf was brushed and cleaned, so great was the ambition of the farmers to excel; 

 now no such pains are taken, and, as the disposition to abandon its cultivation grows stronger every year, less and 

 less pride is taken in its manipulation. 



a A bill (Senate 390) provided that "Perique tobacco may be sold by the manufacturer or producer thereof, ill the form of carotte*, 

 directly to a legally qualified manufacturer, to be cut or granulated and used as material iu the manufacture of cigarettes or smoking- 

 tobacco, without the payment of tax ". This passed the Senate April G, 1882, but failed to become a law during the session. 



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