148 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 



The surface of the state is generally level in the southeast, the level areas being wide and often separated by 

 flanking hills or ridges, which rise 200 feet or more above the river basins. In the interior thesurface is mountainous, 

 but in the west it is generally broken or rolling. The southeastern counties, in their cultivated portions, are but 

 little elevated above tide-water, but in going westward and northward several parallel ridges, running northeast 

 and southwest, reach an elevation of 1,500 feet and upward, forming the Appalachian range. 



The geological formations of the state are confined to three of the principal divisions of rocks. In the 

 southeast are found the Eozoic rocks, which form a belt having a general course northeast and southwest, along 

 which, on the eastern side mainly, in a belt 20 to 30 miles wide, lie the Mesozoic. The Paleozoic series come next, 

 including the Carboniferous, in the western third of the state, extending north nearly to the state line, the Devonian 

 rocks miming east and west all along this line, and the Silurian, with alternating belts of Devonian, between the 

 Eozoic and the Carboniferous rocks. The drift covers the north and northwest tiers of counties, and gradually 

 thins out in going south, and it is even wanting on the table lands along the middle portion of the northern boundary 

 of the state. The gneissoid rocks are mainly confined to the southeastern counties. They are succeeded on the 

 northwest by a belt of inetamorphic limestones of the Silurian age, after which come the red sandstones of the 

 Mesozoic. 



The principal tobacco area from north to south rests first upon the Devonian rocks, covered with their beds of 

 drift on the lowlands, then on a small arm of the Carboniferous rocks, these two occupying a third of the distance 

 across the state. Next succeed the Silurian rocks for a distance of 75 miles, giving place 35 miles south of Harrisburg 

 to the Mesozoic and Eozoic rocks, which supply the best tobacco soils in the state. 



The soils of the state are very fertile, except where the face of the country is rugged, and where sandstones 

 or shales alone abound. The best soils of Lancaster county rest mainly upon limestone and chloritic slates, and 

 are noted for their great strength and durability. In the counties south and east the abundance of limestone 

 assures a high productiveness for the soils. Limestones abound in the mountain valleys, and give rise to good soils. 

 On the upper Susquehauna, in the northeast, the soils are rich, but they are poor and thin and cold on the highlands 

 in the central counties of the north, and become fertile in the northwest. 



The counties of the state that produce 100,000 pounds of tobacco and upward each are Bedford, Tioga, 

 Clinton, Lycomin-g, Union, Northumberland, Snyder, Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Lebanon, Lancaster, Chester, 

 Berks, and Bucks. The eastern edges of Adams, Perry, Juniata, Miffliu, and Centre also produce some tobacco. 

 The tobacco counties form a belt from north to south across the state. Midway north and south the belt is about 

 40 miles wide, and the Susquehanna divides the lower half. That portion of the belt lying east of the 

 Susquehanua produces over 75 per cent, of the entire amount of tobacco grown in the state ; and that portion 

 extending from the center of the state southward, on both sides of the Susquehanna, will be found to produce over 

 90 per cent, of the whole. Lancaster county is the producing center, making two-thirds of the whole product of 

 the state, taking the first rank in 1879 among all the counties of the United States. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Pennsylvania is very hot during summer in the southeastern part of the state, but cool and 

 pleas'aut in the mountainous region. Observations continued by the signal service for nearly ten years show that the 

 average temperature of the spring months at Philadelphia is 50.1 degrees; summer, 74; autumn, 57.7; winter, 33.3. 

 The greatest difference between the highest and the lowest temperature recorded in any one year during the period 

 of observation was 100 degrees ; the average yearly fluctuations in temperature, 44.8. For the same period the mean 

 annual precipitation was 42.95 inches, and the mean of the prevailing winds was northwest. 



The deep, wide gorges through which the Susquehanna and its tributaries flow, and the slight elevation of the 

 valleys above tide-water, make the summer very severe at times, the temperature ranging from 90 to 100. The 

 summer heat is prolonged late into autumn in southeastern Pennsylvania, and frosts rarely occur before October, 

 giving ample time for the tobacco to come to maturity, even though planted as late as the 1st of July. The seasons 

 are shorter in the northern parts of the state, due both to increased elevation and to latitude. In this section the 

 tobacco crop must be harvested ordinarily before the 25th of September. 



IANCASTEE COUNTY. 



In Lancaster county there is constant improvement in the fertility of the soil, notwithstanding the heavy drafts 

 that have been made upon it. This improvement is shown by a comparison of the yields of the crop within the 

 past five years with the five years previous. The increase has been fully 12 per cent. 



The methods of managing the crop in Lancaster county furnish a guide which other counties follow more or 

 less closely, and there is a gradual improvement throughout the state, Lancaster county taking the lead. 



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