126 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Ohio is' one of considerable extremes, being very cold, as low as 16 in winter, and very hot, 

 from 94 to 100 in summer, the thermometer marking an extreme range of 116. 



The annual mean temperature for ten years at Cleveland (latitude 41 30', elevation 660 feet above the sea) 

 is 49.77 degrees. The annual mean for January, the coldest mouth, for the same period was 27.36 degrees ; for 

 the .hottest month, July, 72.57. This will give the mean annual range of the thermometer 45.21 degrees. 



Observations taken at Cincinnati (latitude 39 6') for sixteen years by George W. Harper show the average 

 annual mean temperature to be 54.67 degrees; the mean for the coldest month, January, 31.20, and for the hottest, 

 July, 78.61. The greatest annual precipitation for the same period was 49.17 inches, in 1858, and the lowest 28.03 

 inches, in 1870. The highest average for any one month was for May, 4.12 inches, and the lowest, February, 2.33 

 inches. 



For Cleveland, observations for ten years, taken by G. A. Hyde, show the average annual rainfall to be 35.59 

 inches. The greatest rainfall was in 1866, which reached 48.91 inches, and the lowest in 1863, which was 30.76 

 inches. 



The amount of precipitation varies greatly in different portions of the state. The following table has been 

 compiled from the geological survey of the state and from other sources : 



GEOLOGY. 



The geological formations of the state are mainly horizontal. An arch or slight anticlinal extends from lake 

 Erie through Cincinnati into Kentucky and Tennessee. From this arch there is a slight dip westward to the 

 Illinois coal-fields and eastward to the Appalachian range. The principal formations are the Lower Silurian, the 

 Upper Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Glacial. The Silurian forms a belt from Cincinnati northward to the 

 lake; the Devonian is found in the northwestern corner of the state, and also in a belt running through the state 

 from north to south, separating the Silurian from the Carboniferous in the southeast. The eastern part of Ohio, 

 constituting nearly one-third of the state, belongs to the Carboniferous era, the northern and western to the Devonian, 

 the center to the Upper Silurian, and the southwestern to the Lower Silurian. The bed-rock of this region is tire 

 Cincinnati group of limestones, the blue limestone of the Trenton period being the chief; but for the greater 

 portion of this latter area this limestone is covered by drift. 



There are three well-defined tobacco-growing districts in Ohio. These districts may be called, for the sake of 

 description : 1, the Burley district; 2, the Seed-Leaf district; 3, the Spangled Tobacco district. 



BURLEY DISTRICT. 



The first, or the Burley district, is confined mainly to three counties, lying on the Ohio river, viz : Adams, Browu, 

 and Clermout. These counties commercially belong with the great Burley tobacco-growing district of Kentucky. 



It is not ascertained at what period tobacco began to be grown in these three counties. Unquestionably its 

 culture has been carried on to a greater or less extent for half a century, but the type has been changed from a 

 shipping leaf to an article suited to domestic manufacture. The following table exhibits the production in th. 

 district for each census year from 1840 to 1880, inclusive : 



720 



