CULTURE AND CURING IN LOUISIANA. 85 



laid over this mat, and the tobacco is compacted by tramping, after which the ends of the mat arc doubled over 

 about three inches at each end and tramped again. The whole mass cloth, robes, and fillers is then rolled into 

 a cylinder 15 inches long and about 3 inches in diameter, a hole being kept through the center, into which the 

 ends of the robe leaves are tucked. The ends of the cloth are now tied and a rope wound in a coil about the 

 cttrotte from end to end with a windlass made for the purpose. 

 This rope is taken off at the expiration of twenty-four hours and 

 again wound more tightly around the carotte, when it is ready for 

 market. A man of ordinary skill can put up ten carottes a day with 

 a boy to assist at the windlass. The making of carottcn is generally the work of winter and leisure days, and 

 employs every member of the household in taking the tobacco from the presses, opening, straightening, and 

 weighing it, preparatory to the rolling, which requires considerable tact and skill in the operative. The tobacco 

 often remains in the boxes under pressure for twelve months or more, growing sweeter with time, and is only put 

 into carottes when there is a demand for it, or when the planter desires to sell. 



COST OF PRODUCING AND MARKETING TOBACCO. 



The cost of raising and marketing Perique tobacco probably exceeds that of any other tobacco grown. The 

 value of the land on which it is cultivated is estimated at from $30 to $50 per arpent, the rental value of which is 

 $5 a year. Wages for workers in tobacco amount to 75 cents and $1 a day and board, the latter reckoned at 

 75 cents a day. The following estimate for a crop on 4 arpents of laud was made at Grande Pointe: 



DR. 



Rent of 4 arpents of land, at $5 $20 00 



Oue man five mouths, at $20 per month 100 00 



Two men one month, at $25 per month 50 00 



Three men one mouth, caring, etc 75 00 



Rent of shed, 10 per cent, on $200 20 00 



Boxing 4 50 



Putting up 300 carottes, at 10 cents 30 00 



Rope for wrapping, 10 cents per carotte 30 00 



Internal-revenue tax-stamps 192 00 



521 50 

 CR. 



By 300 carottes, 4 pounds each, at 41 cents per pound 492 00 



Loss for each four arpeuts cultivated 29 50 



Actual cost, of production, exclusive of tax, 27^ cents per pound. 



The growing of Perique tobacco would cease entirely but for the fact that women and children do a large part 

 of the work wlieu they could not be profitably employed at any other industry. The growers of Perique have 

 very small farms, a nd can produce no other crop on the same amount of land that will give them regular employment. 

 While there is no profit in making tobacco, by its culture they are able to get a fair average compensation for the 

 time employed. 



It will be observed that the yield per arpent at Grande Pointe is 75 carottes, or 300 pounds, equivalent to 360 

 pounds per acre ; but the stem, which makes 25 per cent, of the weight of the leaf, must be added, which will give 

 480 pounds per acre. There is also a shrinkage of 20 per cent, in the process of curing, which will make the actual 

 yield per acre (!00 pounds as the product is usually estimated. The maximum production is 30 carottes to the 1,000 

 plants, about 92 to the arpent, or 109 to the acre. Compared with the yield of a ton or more per acre in Pennsylvania 

 and the Connecticut valley, this appears exceedingly small. The production per acre can easily be increased to 1,000 

 or even 1,500 pounds by the application of strong fertilizers in sufficient quantity, but the increase in yield will 

 be at the expense of quality. The peculiar sweetness and flavor of the Perique would be destroyed, and with the 

 destruction of these qualities it would take rank among the lowest grades of American tobacco. 



DISEASES OF TOBACCO. 



FIRING, OR BROWN RUST, is one of the few diseases to which tobacco in Louisiana is subject, and occurs 

 occasionally, but not to such an extent as to work serious injury to the crop. During excessively hot, wet weather 

 in Jnnc or July the disease manifests itself. The leaves nearest the ground will sometimes dry up and others become 

 spotted, and occasionally, during the prevalence of heavy rains, accompanied by strong winds, they are turned 

 over, and the drops of rain will bruise the under surface. These bruised spots become "rusted" in a few days, 

 and if the plant is not cut the whole leaf will become involved. 



KrxsTROKK. When the soil upon which tobacco is grown is not well drained the presence of water in excessive 

 quantity, accompanied by a hot sun. will produce "sunstroke", the effect of which is'first to wilt the leaf, which 

 afterward blackens and dries up in the field if not cut. 



079 



