166 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



board, at other seasons of the year, and strippers are paid 1 cent per pound. The cost of growing 100 pounds of 

 tobacco on the best land is $7 94; on the worst lands, $19 28. The quantity of land generally planted to the hand 

 is 2 acres. Three per cent, of the tillable land of the county is planted in tobacco. The following is the cost of 

 growing an acre of tobacco on the best lands in this county: 



DR. 



Making seed-bed $1 00 



Plowing one acre twice 3 00 



Manure 52 00 



Harrowing and preparing ground 3 00 



Planting 2 00 



narrowing and hoeing three times 9 00 



Topping, suckering, and worming 10 00 



Harvesting --- 5 00 



Use of barn, wagon, laths, etc. (interest on value of) 15 00 



Taking down and stripping 20 00 



Rent of land (interest on value of) - 10 00 



Taking to market 5 00 



135 00 

 CR. 



1,100 pounds tobacco, at 18 cents - $198 00 



200 pounds tobacco, at 8 cents - 16 00 



400 pounds tobacco, at 4 cents 16 00 



230 00 



Estimated profit 95 00 



TIOGA COUNTY. 



t 



This county adjoins on the north the state of New York, and lies within a belt where there is more than the 

 average rainfall for the state. The surface is rolling, often hilly, and much of the land is rough and mountainous, 

 the ridges being separated from one another by broad valleys, underlaid by the Devonian rocks of the Chemung 

 and Catskill series. Agricultural industry is confined to the valleys, while the steep mountain sides are covered 

 with hemlock, birch, pine, and maple. Angular blocks of conglomerate often cover the mountain slopes, the 

 coal measures a considerable portion of the county, and there are numerous patches of red slate. The siliceous 

 soils predominate. There are large bodies of alluvial, sandy soil, but clayey loams are met with, and the color 

 varies from a dark brown to a yellow. The subsoil is chiefly a red and yellow clay resting on a gravelly bed 

 slightly cemented in places. Stable manure is largely used in the production of the tobacco crop, and cold frames, 

 with glass, are sometimes used in growing plants. The plants are set in ridges, made 3J feet apart. About 7,000 

 are considered sufficient for one acre. The crop is suckered generally but once, and that just before harvesting. The 

 plants at harvesting are cut with a hatchet or with a flat piece of thin steel, with a handle and two edges, the 

 instrument being about 6 inches wide and 7 inches long. Sticks with wire hooks are used to some extent in hanging 

 tobacco, but generally the plants are tied to poles with twine. The tobacco-houses are of ordinary character, 

 framed and battened, from 28 to 30 feet wide and from 60 to 250 feet long. The crop throughout is cultivated, 

 handled, and marketed more after the methods pursued in New York than after those usually practiced in 

 Pennsylvania. Wages for good farm hands vary from $120 to $170 a year and board. The erection of tobacco- 

 sheds costs from $2 to $2 50 per lineal foot of barn 4 feet wide. Tobacco culture is a new industry in this county. 

 It was first cultivated near the junction of the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers, and its culture has increased with 

 great rapidity. No tobacco was reported for this county in the census of 1870 ; but it now reports 292,198 pounds, 

 grown on 234 acres, showing an average yield of 1,249 pounds per acre. The nearest packing establishments are at 

 Elmira, New York. 



WESTMORELAND -COUNTY. 



In this county, lying in the western part of the state, tobacco was first grown in 1878, and the reported 

 production for 1879 was 62,096 pounds, grown upon 54 acres. Limestone soils are preferred for its growth, but the 

 sandy loams of the river bottoms and black-walnut clearings are considered excellent. Fully 75 per cent, of the 

 wooded lands of the county are adapted to the growth of tobacco, and it is said that the quality grown on newly- 

 cleared lands is much superior to that grown on old lands. No fertilizers are used, yet about 1,150 pounds per acre 

 is the reported yield, which would indicate an unusual adaptation of the soil for tobacco. The crop of 1879 sold 

 for 14 cents per pound, a high average. The market for the crop is at Latrobe. 



YORK COUNTY. 



York is separated from Lancaster county by the Susquehanua river, and in physical characteristics, soils, and 

 geological formations resembles it very much. The conveniences for handling and taking care of the crop 

 are not so extensive as in Lancaster, and as a consequence the prices received are lower by several cents per 



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