CULTURE AND CURING IN OHIO. 127 



From 1840 to 1850 there was an increase of 1,036 per cent.; from 1850 to 1860, the next decade, an increase of 

 66 per cent. ; for the ten years ending in 1870 an increase of over 61 per cent. ; and the decade ending in 1880 shows 

 a still further increase in ten years of 170 per cent. 



This rapid growth of the tobacco interest in these three counties is due to two causes: one, a fortunate 

 development of a variety, and the other, the change in the demand of manufacturers and consumers for a milder 

 type, in place of the heavier grades which thirty years ago were employed in making plug. Up to 1866 the farmers 

 of the Burley district raised what is now known as Eed Burley. This variety cured up a reddish or cinnamon color, 

 was very light and chaffy and almost destitute of gum, and for that reason was used for cutting into fine shreds and 

 making a particular brand of chewing-tobacco, being a mild, pleasant product. The White Burley had its origin in 

 Brown county. A fanner named George Webb, living near Higginsport, in that county, in the year 1864 sowed 

 his seed-bed with Eed Burley seed, which is said to have come from the farm of Joseph W. Barkley, of Bracken 

 county, Kentucky. The plants came up and except in one particular spot were very healthy. Here they had a 

 whitish, sickly appearance, and when the I ime came for setting out his crop these were left in the bed, as they were 

 thought to be worthless. Finding, however, that he still lacked enough to set two rows, he returned to his seed-bed 

 ami drew out the sickly-looking plants and used them, rather than go to a neighbor for a quantity sufficient to finish 

 his crop. For two or three weeks the white plants seemed to grow but little, but when they became well rooted they 

 grew with greater rapidity, and the tobacco grew rapidly to fine size, retaining all its creamy richness of color, and 

 ripening two weeks earlier than any other tobacco in the field. When cured in the ordinary way, by atmospheric 

 influences, it was discovered that on the underside of the leaf there was a whitish tinge, while the upper side was 

 of a beautiful golden yellow. A few plants were cut and cured which measured near 6 feet in length, and were put 

 ou exhibition in the Bodeuian warehouse, in Cincinnati. Buyers gave encouragement to its further cultivation, and 

 the next year (1805) the gentleman on whose farm it originated planted 10 acres, from which 11,000 pounds of tobacco 

 were gathered, which was very handsome and silky, and had all the characteristic marks in coloring which the sample 

 of the previous year had displayed. This tobacco, when put on the market, brought from 25 to 45 cents per pound, 

 and a premium of $300 was awarded, in addition to this large price, to the successful grower. From this beginning 

 the White Burley has gained the position noted in the description of other states, especially in that of Kentucky. 



The district consists of a. river valley, fringed by bluffs of modified drift, rising to the height of 500 feet above 

 the low water of the Ohio river. These bluffs run off into a plateau, sometimes deeply gashed by numerous 

 tributaries of the Ohio and the Little Miami, but generally the erosion has not been deep, and frequent instances 

 occur where small streams meander through broad valleys. Broad stretches of level land are found, sometimes so 

 flat that in times of excessive rains they overflow and form temporary inland lakes. The main axis of the Cincinnati 

 group passes through Clermout county. 



The limestones are even bedded, and vary in color from a dark-blue to a buff. These beds have a gentle dip 

 to the north, as well as to the east or to the west, the latter especially in Clermont county, and many beds appear 

 along the river, which lie below low-water mark at Cincinnati. Some of these beds are full of fossils, and analysis 

 shows that potash, soda, and phosphoric acid enter largely into their composition. 



The drift deposits are extensive, and contribute mainly to the formation of the soil. Every part of the district, 

 except the slopes of the hills that border the streams and the more recent drifts of the Ohio river bottoms, is covered 

 with them. It is a fact well established that the drift formations of this region contain much less imbedded gravel 

 than the region on the Miami river and districts further north. This drift is composed largely of clays, and its 

 thickness varies from 10 to 50 feet. Its usual thickness, however, is about 20 feet, and it is composed for the most 

 part, according to a recent geological survey, of the following materials, beginning at the surface and descending: 



1. Surface clays, generally white, sometimes darkened by an accumulation of humus, especially in swamps or 

 basins. 



2. Yellow clays, abounding with limestone gravel, forming the surface where the first has been carried away 

 by denudation. 



3. Forest bed, a dark carbonaceous clay, abounding in the remains of vegetable matter; often peaty; generally 

 resting upon a bed of bog-iron ore 1 or 2 feet in thickness. 



4. Hard-pan, a blue, compact, putty-like mass, with occasional layers of intercalated sand. This last generally 

 rests upon the bed-rocks. This clay contains pebbles and bowlders, mostly of limestone. 



The soils of the district may be divided into four classes, viz : 1, native soils, formed from the disintegration 

 of the bedrocks of the country; 2, drift soils of the uplands; 3, black soils of swampy places; 4, alluvial of the 

 river bottoms. 



The soils of the first class are not widespread, but are confined to the slopes of the streams. Some of them 

 abound in vegetable humus, and are dark in color, very friable, and exceeding fertile. When the soil is deficient 

 in vegetable matter, it is of a reddish hue, though always fertile. This fertility is derived from the large 

 amount of carbonate of lime, potash, soda, and phosphoric aCid which often abound in the limestone rocks; 

 and their fertility is still further increased by the arenaceous character of the limestone, which makes them 

 open and light. They wash easily, however, on account of their slight depth and the general unevenuess of the 

 surface where they exist, but are preferred for tobacco. The chief trees are sugar maple and walnut. 



46 AO 721 



