164 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



productive. The red shales and sandstones, accompanied by conglomerates and limestones, occupy a large portion 

 of the county, making excellent soils. Trap and gneissoid rocks also abound in the ridgy parts of the county, 

 where there are many fertile limestone valleys. The soil preferred for tobacco is what is known as isinglass soil 

 a light loam on rolling lands, in which particles of mica are abundant. The texture of the tobacco grown on rolling 

 lands is finer than that grown on level lands. Five townships in the southern part of the county are well adapted 

 to the growth of tobacco. The acreage has increased 25 per cent, since 1876, and the quality is much finer, 

 improving with the experience of the fanners. Duck island, in the Delaware river, is noted for its excellent 

 tobacco. Stable manure yields on sandy loams the best results in the culture of tobacco, and about 1C tons of horse 

 manure, at a cost of from $2 50 to $4 per ton, are applied with three or four hundred weight of artificial fertilizers to 

 the acre. Rotation: wheat, grass, corn, tobacco. The quality of the tobacco made is rank. Tobacco plants are set on 

 ridges raised 3 inches above the general level. These ridges are 4 feet apart, and one plant is set at every 30 inches. 

 In 1870 the crop was badly damaged by pole-sweat, at least 50 per cent, having been injured. The tobacco-houses 

 are graatly inferior to those of Lancaster county. There are two packing establishments near Tullytown. The cost 

 of growing one acre, producing 1,500 pounds, is estimated at $125, including manure, which costs $40 per acre; value 

 of product in the barns, 12 cents per pound, or $180 per acre; net profit, $55. Another report gives the cost of 

 labor alone at $100 ; other expenses, including $65 for manure, at $81; making a total cost per acre of $181. The 

 crop is credited with 1,800 pounds of tobacco, at 14 cents through, or $252, which would give a net profit of $71 

 per acre. 



CHESTEK COUNTY. 



This county adjoins Lancaster on the east, and partakes largely of its general character in surface and soil 

 features. The Welsh mountains, a sandstone chain, run along its northwestern boundary. South of that lies a 

 wide belt of red shale and sandstone and a considerable area of gneissoid rocks. Chester valley is based on 

 metamorphosed limestone and forms a distinguishing feature in the county. South of the valley lies a belt of 

 Eozoic rocks, consisting of gneiss and mica slates. In this belt serpentine hornblende, trap and feldspar, chrome- 

 iron ore, kaolin, and corundum occur. Tobacco is principally grown in those townships adjoining Lancaster county, 

 and sandy loams are preferred, though limestone and slaty soils are employed in its production. Tobacco culture 

 has increased very rapidly. In 1878' but little more than 100 acres were planted; in 1879 the returns show 487 

 acres, yielding 633,032 pounds. The crop of 1879 far exceeded any other in quantity as well as in quality, the 

 varieties planted being the same as those grown in Lancaster county. Tobacco-barns are of a poor character, mere 

 temporary make-shifts. The market for tobacco is Lancaster. The cost of producing an acre is variously estimated 

 at from $50 to $67, which would indicate light manuring; the yield per acre is 1,301 pounds. 



CLINTON COUNTY. 



The west branch of the Susquehanna flows through Clinton county for a distance of 50 miles. As in other 

 counties in central Pennsylvania, the surface is varied by mountains, hills, and valleys, and the timber growth is 

 pine, oak, chestnut, walnut, and hickory. Limestones and sandstones prevail generally throughout the county, but 

 the latter are more common. The soil, both on the uplands and in the valleys, is mostly a sandy loam, this being 

 especially the case along the streams; indeed, there is scarcely an acre in the upper west branch region that is 

 not more or less strewn with broken fragments of sandstone. Yet this soil is generous and kind, and even elevated 

 farms produce crops of all kinds. Limestone is found in nearly every township, but the northwestern portion of the 

 county lies within the limits of the Clearfield coal-basin. The culture of tobacco was begun in this county as early 

 as 1854, some say ten years earlier, but the census of 1850 does not report tobacco among the productions. The 

 crop is now cultivated mainly east of the center of the county. The best tobacco soil is a dark saudy loam, light, 

 warm, and loose, with a red-clay subsoil, and in preparing it it is plowed only once in the fall and again in the spring. 

 Large applications of barn -yard manures are made after plowing and are harrowed in, and the soil is said to 

 increase in productiveness every year, so large is the quantity of manure used. The crop is managed generally as 

 in the southern counties, only that in the preparation of seed-beds the land is frequently burned. In harvesting the 

 plants are speared on laths, and no hooks or twine are used. The tobacco-barns in this county are from 24 to 32 

 feet wide and of any desired length, and are made as tight as rough boards will make them, and it is estimated that 

 a barn 24 feet wide, 20 feet long, and fourteen tiers high, with a short one under the roof, is sufficient to house one 

 acre of good large tobacco. A barn 24 feet wide and 100 feet long will cost $500. Scaffolds are used in the fields, 

 but it is believed that the color of the tobacco is improved if carried to the barn as soon as cut. Contrary to the 

 usual rule, in assorting and classifying tobacco only two grades are made, wrappers and fillers. Rarely is the third 

 grade, seconds or binders, separated. The growers sell to local dealers, who pack it in boxes 40 inches long, 28 

 inches wide, and 30 inches deep. The best lands in the county for growing tobacco are rated at $200 to $250 per 

 acre. These lands will grow in a favorable season from 1,800 to 2,(!00 pounds of tobacco. Inferior tobacco lands, 

 with a capacity for growing 1,000 to 1,200 pounds to the acre, are worth from $100 to $150 an acre. When rented, 

 the best lands bring from $25 to $30 an acre. For working a tobacco crop labor is hired by the day at from 75 cents 



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