96 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



CLIMATE. 



Missouri is subject to all the advantages and disadvantages of an inland or continental climate. The influences 

 of its two great rivers the Mississippi, on its eastern border, and the Missouri, running through the center of the 

 state, and their various tributaries favorably modify its climatic condition. The elevation above the sea varies 

 from 300 to 400 feet in the southeastern portion of the state, and from 1,200 to 1,000 in the southwestern portion. 

 Accurate meteorological observations for any extended period have been only made at Saint Louis. According to the 

 report of the signal officer at that point the mean temperature at Saint Louis from November 1, 1870 (the time at 

 which the observations commenced), to October 31, 1880, has been as follows for the several seasons: Spring, 55 

 degrees; summer, 77.1; autumn, 55.9; winter, 34.5. The highest temperature recorded during the ten years in 

 which observations have been made was 101 degrees, and the lowest 1C, the average yearly fluctuations being 50.7, 

 and the average mean temperature 55.G. The mean annual rainfall for the same period was 39.G7 inches, and the 

 mean of the prevailing winds has been south. The daily changes of temperature are ordinarily not more than 20 

 degrees, but occasionally reach 30, and even 40 degrees. The winters are variable, alternating between cold spells 

 and mild and open weather. Notwithstanding the large rainfall, the climate may be classed as a dry one, as the 

 most abundant rains fall in a very short space of time, and clear skies are the rule and cloudy and overcast 

 ones the exception. Evaporation is rapid, and the dew point is consequently a high one. The prevailing winds are 

 south and southeast in the warmer seasons and west and northwest iu the colder ones. 



CHARACTER OF PRODUCT AND PROPORTION OF GRADES. 



HEAVY TOBACCO DISTRICT." 



By far the largest proportion of tobacco raised in Missouri heretofore consisted of a heavy, substantial leaf, 

 grown principally in the following counties, viz: Chariton, with a crop ranging in quantity from 4,500,000 to 

 14,000,000 pounds, as in 1870, the average annual production of the county for ten years being about 9,000,000 

 pounds; Randolph, Howard, and Boone, with an average annual production of 0,000,000 pounds; Saline, with an 

 average crop of 2,000,000 pounds; Carroll, Livingston, and Linn, with an average production of 2,500,000 pounds ; 

 and Macon, Shelby, and Monroe, with an average crop of 2,000,000 pounds. 



This group of counties may, for convenience of description, be called the heavy tobacco district. All the 

 product of this district is bought up by rehandlers in the princip.il towns. 



Though the largest proportion of the tobacco of this district has been prepared for the British market, yet a 

 small part of it has been taken by the trade in the United States on account of its sweetness and toughness the 

 lugs and common dark leaf by the manufacturers of lower grades of smokiug-tobacco and plug tobaccos, and the 

 finer pails of the crop for the better grades of chewing-tobacco. 



It is estimated that of the crop grown in this district iu 1879 the percentages of grades were as follows : Dark 

 shipping, 33 per cent.; fillers (one-half White Burley), 30 per cent. ; smokers, 8 per cent. ; wrappers, 2 per cent. ; 

 cutting, 10 per cent.; nondescript, 17 per cent. Ten years previously the proportions of grades were as follows: 

 Dark shipping, 50 per cent. ; sweet fillers, 10 per ceut. ; cuttings, 10 per cent. ; wrappers and smokers, 10 per cent. ; 

 nondescript, 20 per cent. 



The requirements of the home manufacturers and the dullness of the markets abroad have produced the changes 

 indicated, and the shipping and stemming types, suitable for home consumption, have greatly improved. 



MANUFACTURING DISTRICT. 



The annual average production of this district is about 3,850,000 pounds. It produces a very fine grade of 

 manufacturing tobacco, having a fine fiber, and the crop contains a fair proportion of colored and yellow leaf, 

 which approximates in character the finer styles of Virginia leaf. 



Callaway, Osage, and Franklin counties raise a fair proportion of bright wrappers, which have been valued 

 highly by manufacturers in former years, but are rather too small for western manufacturers. Small crops of a 

 mixed character are raised iu Saint Charles, Laclede, Dallas, Webster, Greene, and other counties of Missouri. 

 Jackson county, in the western part of the state, raises a small quantity of very fine tobacco, resembling that 

 growp in Callaway county. It is generally conceded, however, that the latter county raises the finest tobacco 

 grown in the state, rivaling in the brilliancy of its yellow color the hickory leaf of autumn. The light wrappers, 

 fillers, and smokers grown in this county command very high prices, some of the wrappers selling in the Saint 

 Louis market for 50 cents per pound. 



The product of Montgomery, Lincoln, Warren, and Pike is used for plug fillers almost exclusively, but the 

 crop has been gradually decreasing in quantity for several years. All the tobacco grown in' Pike county is consumed 

 at the manufacturing establishments situated in the county. 



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