J58 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



although many are made in the lumber regions of Pennsylvania. The cost of cases is about $1 05 each at the 

 present time (1880) ; the size is 2 feet 6 inches high, 2 feet 6 inches wide, and 3 feet long, and will easily hold 400 

 pounds of tobacco. Generally only about 375 pounds of fine wrappers are packed in a case, close packing being 

 considered objectionable to that part of the crop, while rather more than 400 pounds are packed into a case of the 

 other grades. Some packers, however, put in exactly 400 pounds. The loss on tobacco incurred by the sweating 

 process after it is cured is from 9 to 15 per cent. Sometimes the tobacco is sold at the marked weight, that is, at 

 the weight of the tobacco at the time it was cased, at which time the weight of case and tobacco are plainly marked 

 on the box; and sometimes by reweight, that is, with the loss from the sweating deducted. The cost of sampling, 

 including labor for handling, opening, and shutting of cases, is 50 cents per case. The average wages of hands 

 engaged during the winter season to receive, handle, assort, and pack the tobacco is $9 per week ; the foreman 

 gets about $12. The only tax (a) packers are required to pay is the government tax of $25 as dealers, irrespective 

 of the quantity bought and sold. 



TOBACCO WAREHOUSES. 



The warehouses and packing establishments are brick structures from 75 to 150 feet long and of corresponding 

 width, and from two to three stories high, and their capacity runs from 500 to 5,000 cases. On one short street in 

 the eastern part of the city of Lancaster there are six of these structures standing side by side. This street is 

 appropriately named Tobacco avenue. Often the adjoining streets for several blocks are crowded with double rows 

 of vehicles of all descriptions, from the wagon with a siugle horse to the " Conestoga wagon " with its six magnificent 

 horses. Teams that have twenty or more miles to come leave their homes on the previous evening, and as early as 

 one o'clock the train of wagons begins to pour in, each driver being anxious to be the first comer, in order to secure a 

 favorable place, and, consequently, an early discharge of his load. During the receiving season from ten to eighty 

 hands are constantly employed, and sometimes a night gang is taken on in addition. As many as 1,000,000 pounds 

 have been received by the packing houses in Lancaster in a siugle day, while as much as $175,000 has been paid to 

 the growers in the same time by the packers. A single firm has purchased $400,000 worth of tobacco in a season, 

 while many buy to the value of $100.000 each. 



DOES TOBACCO IMPOVERISH THE SOIL? 



Tobacco is a voracious feeder and makes heavy drafts on the soil, but the growers in Pennsylvania do 

 not believe it is harder on the soil than the ordinary farm crops. For more than thirty years it has been 

 continuously grown on their fields, and yet there is not a single acre in the county that has been worn out from 

 this cause. Under the system of cultivation practiced in Lancaster county the tobacco lands are growing richer, 

 instead of becoming impoverished. It will be observed that one of the gentlemen who have furnished estimates of 

 the profit on an acre of tobacco, Mr. H. G. Rush, claims a credit of $25 because of the increased fertility of the soil. 

 That should settle this matter very effectually so far as Lancaster county is concerned. 



Where careless farming prevails the case would, no doubt, be very different. To crop tobacco year after year 

 without returning an ample equivalent to the soil can, of course, have only one ending. All the money realized from 

 the tobacco crop remains in the farmers' hands, and they are at little expense, except for labor. Few artificial 

 fertilizers are purchased, the great aim being to produce as much home-made manure as possible. No straw, hay, 

 or corn is sold by the best farmers ; all is fed on the farm. Large numbers of stock cattle are purchased in the fall, 

 fattened during the winter, and if the farmer only realizes a fair price for the corn fed them he looks for no other 

 profit for his trouble, well aware that the increased size of his manure pile will make him ample amends, and that the 

 fertility of his farm will be maintained. 



Another fact must not be forgotten. Great care is exercised in the amount of laud set out iu tobacco. While 

 there are three or four persons who have planted as many as 50 acres in a single year, a few only plant as many as 

 10, while by far the greater number grow only from 1 to 5 acres each. In 1879 the acreage which a farmer 

 might safely plant was discussed at a meeting of the county agricultural society, and, an expression of opinion 

 being taken, the limit was placed at 5 per cent, of the tillable acres of the farm, but a large minority of the members 

 thought 3 per cent, enough. As the farms run from 75 to 100 ac res, it will be seen that the danger of ruining the 

 farms through tobacco- growing is not a contingency that gives much alarm. 



LABOR AND WAGES. 



It cannot be said that there is any appreciable difference between the cost of labor employed in tobacco culture 

 and that paid for ordinary farm work. This rule holds good throughout the state. On page 159 is given the ordinary 

 wages paid to farm laborers, which will represent the cost of hands employed in tobacco culture. Most farms of 

 the average size employ at least one hand throughout the entire year, and when such labor is employed only during 



a More recently a modification of this law has been made, so that by paying a tax of $5 a merchant may buy tobacco to the amount 

 of 25, 000 pounds. 

 752 



