162 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



satisfactory results. A few planters are accustomed to throw a handful of hen droppings wherever a plant is set. 

 It is found, however, that chicken manure, when applied uncomposted to seed-beds, has frequently a tendency to 

 burn the tender plants. 



BLACK-EOOT. 



In some years the plants, both in the seed-bed and after being set out, are affected by a disease known as 

 the "black-root". The plants so affected do not die, but after standing comparatively still for a long time revive 

 later in the season, but do not make a good quality of tobacco. It is not known what the agencies are in producing 

 this disease, nor has there been a remedy discovered for it. By some it is believed to be the result of sowing seed 

 continuously in old seed-beds. Seed-beds in newly-cleared ground are said to be entirely free from it. 



FOXY TOBACCO. 



Loose, sandy soil is the kind where "foxy" tobacco is most found, but all soils and localities, uplands and 

 bottoms, occasionally develop it. Some think it more likely to be the result of drought, accompanied by very 

 warm weather, rather than a matter of soils and situation. This disease is known as "Walloon" in the southern 

 states. 



RAPID GROWTH DESIRABLE. 



Rapid growth during the last two weeks the tobacco remains in the field is highly desirable, and the quality of 

 the leaf is always superior when such is the case. The growth which tobacco will make under favorable 

 circumstances is wonderful, leaves 42 by 30 inches and 47 by 27i inches in size having been grown in sixty days from 

 the time they were set out. Connecticut Seed-Leaf planted in Lancaster county has, under favorable circumstances, 

 produced leaves 26 by 14 inches in twenty-one days. 



TIMBER LAND OF THE COUNTY. 



Probably only 12 or 15 per cent, of the area of Lancaster county is now in timber, and during recent years 

 the cultivation of tobacco has contributed much to reduce the timber area. Newly-cleared lands are the best for 

 tobacco culture. A virgin soil seems to contain all the elements required by this voracious feeder, and no old lands 

 are comparable with them. 



BY WHOM TOBACCO IS CULTIVATED. 



When only a few acres of tobacco are planted by a farmer he and the hired help on the farm attend to it, in 

 addition to the other farm crops; but when a larger area is planted, say from 10 to 30 acres, it is generally given 

 out to croppers on shares, the farmer furnishing the land and the barn and the cropper providing all the labor. 

 The labor being light, much of it is performed by the women and children of the family ; so that there is really 

 little or no expenditure in cash on the part of the cropper. Land is seldom rented outright for tobacco-growing, 

 but a few cases of this kind do occur. The rental of land for this purpose is about $60 per acre, and when the season 

 is a good one even this large sum leaves a handsome profit to the renter. In many cases laboring men who have 

 given their attention to tobacco-growing have bought a few acres, for which a single successful season has enabled 

 them to pay. 



SECOND TOBACCO CROP. 



A second crop is rarely grown. Although this might be done in favorable seasons, when the main crop is cut 

 very early, farmers are content with housing the first growth in good condition. Fields are frequently seen late 

 in the fall, upon which the second growth has been left to take care of itself, that look almost as if no tobacco had 

 been cut from them. This second crop is turned under by good farmers, for the double purpose of enriching the soil 

 and to destroy the numerous insects that feed upon the plant at that time. 



SOWING TOBACCO SEED IN THE FALL. 



It is the general practice to sow tobacco seed in the spring ; but some farmers have tried late fall sowing with 

 excellent results, the plants being stronger and better than spring-grown plants set in the same field. In 1879 a 

 grower neglected to gather all his seed, and that from several plants was scattered by the winter winds. In the 

 spring they came up well, and produced better plants than any he grew in the regular way. 



INSURANCE OF TOBACCO-BARNS AND CROPS. 



Insurance is as readily effected on tobacco-barns, warehouses, and buildings in which tobacco is handled as on 

 property of a like kind used for other purposes. A company was organized in 1879 to insure tobacco in the field, 

 and a considerable amount was thus insured, the association taking a risk of $150 per acre. 



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