CULTURE AND CURING IN MISSOURI: ' 101 



Where the crop is sold loose to dealers it is tied in very large bundles, containing from thirty to forty leaves 

 each, and when it is to be prized each bundle contains only eight or ten leaves. Loose tobacco is delivered to 

 dealers in very damp condition, and they redry, reassert, and retie it. It is then bulked down, each grade being 

 kept separate, and allowed to go through the process of sweating or fermentation. 



The casks used for packing are 42 inches in diameter and 50 inches in length, and the number of pounds packed 

 in a cask varies with the grade of tobacco, as follows: Shipping leaf, 1,300 to 1,400 pounds; lugs, 1,000 to 1,800; 

 fillers, 1,000 to 1,200. Wrappers are packed usually in tubs 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet high, each of which 

 contains from 50 to 150 pounds. Sometimes they are packed in boxes weighing from 200 to 400 pounds. The 

 staves for hogsheads are sawed, and cost $1 per hundred feet. Sixty-five feet, board measure, will make one 

 hogshead, and 25 feet additional for two heads. Hoop-poles cost 3 cents each, delivered. Nails and cooperage 

 make up the cost of hogsheads to $1 90 each. 



TOBACCO STEIPS. 



No strips for exportation were made in the state for the year beginning June 1, 1879, and ending May 31, 1880. 

 Previous to 1800 a very large proportion of the product of the heavy tobacco district was stemmed, the large and 

 leafy character grown, with its great absorptive capacity, making it well adapted for that purpose. 



COST OP GBOWING TOBACCO. 



The great fertility of the virgin soils of Missouri, their adaptation to the growth of the tobacco plant, and the 

 small amount of cultivation required to produce the crop, reduce the cost of production to a minimum upon the 

 richer soils. Taking as an illustration Chariton county, which occupies a central position in the heavy tobacco 

 district, the best tobacco lands, cleared and inclosed, are worth in the market $20 per acre, and they have the 

 capacity to produce from 1,000 to 1,800 pounds of tobacco to the acre, varying with a favorable or unfavorable 

 season. Assuming the average to be 1,400 pounds to the acre for best soils, we have: 



DR. 



Hire of one man for four mouths, at $12 50 .. $50 00 



Board of band 20 00 



Use of horse and feed for same 12 25 



Use of plows, wagon, barn, etc 10 00 



Use of three acres land (interest on price) 3 60 



95 85 



CB. 



By 4,200 pounds of tobacco, at 4J cents ._. 189 00 



Profit on best lands, per acre 31 05 



Profit on each hand employed 93 15 



Cost of production, $2 28 per hundred pounds. 



This, it must be remembered, is for the best soils and under the most favorable conditions of culture and 

 development. There are thin soils planted in tobacco that will not make over 650 pounds per acre, but the growth 

 upon such soils commands a much higher price, and in this there is often a compensation for the loss in the quantity 

 produced. The average yield per acre for Chariton county in 1879 was 937 pounds, and on this basis, taking the 

 average price of the crop at 4.J cents per pound, the expense of labor, tools, and land remaining the same, we shall 

 have: 



Average profit per acre $10 21 



Profit on each hand employed 1 30 63 



Cost of production per 100 pounds 3 41 



A gentleman residing in Boone county writes that he raised 40 acres of tobacco a few years since entirely with 

 hired labor and kept an accurate account of the cost up to the time the crop was delivered at the factory. The 

 entire product was 42,000 pounds, and the total cost of production was $3 35 per hundred pounds. The profits 

 arising from the cultivation of the White Burley, at an average price of 8 cents per pound (prices vary from 6 to 

 10 cents, crops round) and an average yield of 1,200 pounds per acre, will be: Per acre, $04 15; per hand, $192 15; 

 cost of production per hundred pounds, $2 00. 



The following statement comes from a trustworthy source in Callaway county, in the manufacturing district: 

 The price of the best tobacco lands per acre varies from $5 to $8 per acre. Two crops are usually given tenants 

 for clearing and fencing the land, and some tobncco is grown on "shares". The price of labor varies from $12 to 



695 



