CULTURE AND CURING IN OHIO. 141 



SPANGLED, OE EASTEEN TOBACCO DISTEICT. 



The comities and parts of counties embraced in this district are the southern part of Harrison, eastern part of 

 Athens, eastern part of Gallia, the southeastern half of Guernsey, the eastern part of Morgan, and all of Belniont, 

 Monroe, Noble, and Washington. Vinton and Lawrence are also referred to this district. 



GEOLOGY AND SOILS. 



Nearly the entire region of the Eastern Ohio tobacco district belongs geologically to the Carboniferous period. 

 Its surface is high and rolling, and contains a very small proportion of level lauds, confined, for the most part, to 

 the alluviums of the river basins. The highest lands attain an elevation of nearly 1,200 feet above the sea. 



The rocks of the region are sandstones, shales, and limestones, and in their dissolution give rise to soils of varying 

 fertility. Vv'heuever the underlying rocks are of limestone, the soil is dark in color, with a yellowish subsoil, and sugar 

 maple, walnut, and white oak are the prevailing timber growth. Where the underlying rocks are sandy shales or 

 sandstones, the soil is thin, but kind, and is well suited for pasturage, but washes very rapidly when cultivated, and 

 chestnut, chestnut oak, and in places yellow pine are the predominating trees. Where the limestones and sandstones 

 both have, by weathering, produced the soil, it is very friable and productive, and probably is better for growing 

 tobacco thau any other soils in the region. In such places the timber growth is much more varied, and indicates 

 great fertility. The alluvial bottoms on the larger streams, as on the Muskingum and Ohio, will equal in fertility 

 any lands in the state. The second bottoms, or gravel terraces, on these larger streams have a warm, rich, soil, 

 but are not so durable as the lower bottoms. . 



The rolling surface of the country adapts it better for grazing than for tillage, and it is estimated that at least 

 two-thirds of the improved lauds are devoted to the production of grasses, either for hay or for pasturage. The 

 tobacco crop is usually grown upon freshly-cleared lands on the slopes of the hills. The sandy soils are said to 

 produce the finest leaf, but the argillaceous, loamy soils are better adapted to the growth of a heavy leaf, and will 

 yield more pounds to the acre. On preferred tobacco soils the timber growth is chestnut oak, hickory, and maple. 



The soils may, for convenience, be divided into: 1, alluvial; 2, black soil, with sugar-tree and walnut; 3, white 

 oak, sandy soil ; and 4, white oak, clayey soil. The alluvial soils are composed of varying proportions of sand, clay, 

 and vegetable matter, and are enriched by the washings of the adjacent hills. They are very deep and durable, 

 and some of them have been cultivated in regular succession for over half a century without showing the least 

 signs of exhaustion. The> rest for the most part on a substratum of gravel, clay, and sand, intermingled oftentimes 

 with fragments of limestone and sandstone. The black soil is highly calcareous, and has been derived from the 

 crumbling down of the limestones, which make up a large part of the rocky structure of the country. This soil 

 shades oft' into lighter 1 colors, and may be taken as the best type of the calcareous soils, which abound in almost 

 every part of the district. It rests generally upon a yellowish clay, and, though strong in constitution, its occurrence 

 ou slopes makes it liable to be carried away by heavy rains to the lower alluvials. This black soil generally occurs 

 on the eastern sides of hills, and for the growing of heavy tobacco is preferred above any other. The third 

 class of soils results from the disintegration of the argillaceous shales and limestones, and, though stiff, is fertile. 

 They are characterized by a dense growtli of white oak, and are often cultivated in tobacco. The fourth class 

 is only a modification of the last, the sandstones taking the place of the limestones. These are more friable than 

 the last named, and occnr on the tops and slopes of hills, where the underlying rocks are sandstone and shales. These 

 lands will produce from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of tobacco per acre when freshly cleared. 



The southwestern part of Belmont county constitutes the principal tobacco area of the district, and the 

 principal crops are corn, wheat, and grass. The prevailing timber is oak, sugar tree, and beech, though hickory, 

 walnut, ash, guui ; poplar, and locust grow in considerable abundance, and sycamore is found near the streams. 

 The district is likely to be rapidly denuded of its forests wherever the soil is suitable for growing tobacco. Fresh 

 lauds are greatly preferred for making the high-priced spangled leaf, which is sought for by the nobility of Russia. 



Tobacco is cultivated on the tops of the hills and on the eastern slopes mainly. Wherever there is a mixture of 

 sand and clay and calcareous deposits, into which has been incorporated vegetable matter, the soil will produce tobacco 

 of excellent quality, the white oak and chestnut lauds being selected for growing a fine leaf, the sugar-tree lands 

 for growing a heavy leaf. The sugar tree is generally associated with beech, ash, walnut, poplar, hickory, and 

 sometimes buckeye. The soil of such lands is black, deep, friable, of great strength of constitution, but unfortunately 

 situated for constant tillage, being liable to be swept away to a greater or less extent by every heavy rain. These 

 black soils often produce 2,000 pounds of tobacco per acre without manure. The sandy calcareous white-oak lands 

 will yield 1,200 pounds, and the sandy chestnut and white-oak lauds, where there is a deficiency of calcareous matter, 

 will yield, when fresh, from 800 to 1,000 pounds of very fine tobacco. 



HISTORY OF TOBACCO CULTURE IN THE DISTRICT. 



Tobacco as a staple was cultivated in the Eastern Ohio tobacco region as early as 1825. At that period it was 

 all cured on the stalk and handled by the planters, as is now the practice in many parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and 

 Kentucky. The prices received by the planters from 1825 to 1840 ranged from 4 to 7 cents per pound, but in 1841 



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