170 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



estimated to be one-sixth, and it is more highly prized for corn, small grain, and the grasses than any other, but some 

 farmers prefer it for tobacco, though tobacco grown upon it is large, coarse, and bony. The ash-colored soil, though 

 lying at a higher elevation than the black, is close, compact, and often water-soaked, the native growth being 

 hornbeam, tupello gum, and pin oak. Properly subsoiled and underdrained, this soil produces herds' grass luxuriantly, 

 and when aerated will grow the cereals-well, as well as tobacco of good quality. Usually, however, it is avoided for 

 the growth of tobacco and wheat, because if not well drained tobacco will " french", and wheat will be injured, if 

 not destroyed, by rust. This soil occupies about one-tenth of the area of the two counties. The mulatto laud, 

 occupying the highest elevation, is grayish on the top and mulatto below, and prevails to a much larger extent than 

 both of the others. The native growth is tulip tree, white ash, sugar-tree, elm, white and red oak, black gum, 

 black and white walnut, mulberry, honey locust, and coffee-nut, with an undergrowth of papaw, red-bud, dogwood, 

 and sometimes hazel-nut. This, for all purposes, is regarded as the most valuable soil in the two counties under 

 consideration. It occupies a rolling surface, which rises sometimes into hills 100 feet high, in the western part of 

 the counties of Dyer and Obion. By a large majority of farmers this soil is preferred for tobacco, wheat, and cotton. 

 The mulatto soil pulverizes more finely than the black, does not become so wet or so dry, and forms the bulk 

 of the farming lands in the two counties. The black occupies a more level surface, and, it is said, will stand more 

 constant cropping than the ash-colored, and does not wash, in consequence of the level surface upon which it rests. 

 The tobacco of Obion and Dyer counties is noted for its large size, wide leaves, uniform brown color, and fitness 

 for making strips. 



In Weakley county the soils vary greatly in productive capacity, the western portion of the county being 

 generally fertile and the timber large. The principal growth is black oak, interspersed with white oak, post 

 oak, hickory, black gum, ash, and dogwood, with but few tulip trees. In other places the tulip tree predominates, 

 associated with white oak, sweet gum, hickory, post oak, black gum, and dogwood. The lands presenting the best 

 growth are generally level, are of a mulatto color, sometimes dark brown, and are especially adapted to the growth of 

 corn, tobacco, and wheat. The soils east of Dresden are called " the barrens ", and are divided into " hickory 

 barrens ", on which the hickory tree predominates, interspersed with dogwood and black gum ; " black-jack barrens," 

 which have a thin soil ; and " post-oak and hickory barrens", in wkich the soil is intermediate in character between the 

 two previously mentioned. All the "barren" lands are well adapted to the production of a fine quality of tobacco. 

 The soil, composed mostly of decayed vegetable matter, is incumbent on a red clay, beneath which is a reddish 

 sand, and when properly cared for is of great durability. The best tobacco lands in Weakley county lie between 

 the northern and middle forks of the Obion river, and include about 170 square miles. Three classes of soils 

 are recognized by the farmers as suited to tobacco : the tulip-tree lands, the black-jack lands, and the bottom 

 lands. The first makes a very leafy tobacco, that cures a brown and piebald color, and makes a wrapper suitable 

 for navy or common plug. The tobacco grown on old black-jack lands usually cures up a dark brown, sometimes of 

 a yellowish piebald color. The brown makes a good German shipper, and the bright tobacco is mainly used in the 

 manufacture of plug. Tobacco grown on freshly cleared black-jack lands always cures up a bright color, and the 

 leaf is oily, compact, elastic, and of small fiber ; that grown upon bottom lauds is large, coarse, dark in color, very 

 porous, and is only suited for making strips for the English market. 



In the barrens the black-jack is dying out and the red oak is taking its place. The black-jack is fed upon the 

 top-dressing of potash left by the annual fires, and in every state in which inquiries have been instituted it grows 

 with vigor upon suitable soils, only where fires annually consume the dead grasses, and it dwindles into feeble 

 vitality as these conflagrations grow less frequent, it having long been known that no tree of the forest is richer in 

 potash, and the failure of this food soon produces decay and death. 



The same character of barren soil, characterized by the same forest growth, prevails in the northern part of 

 Carroll county, where tobacco is grown. On Givens' creek the soil is of singular excellence, the timber growth 

 being tulip tree, red oak, white oak, beech, black gum, sweet gum, hackberry, and catalpa. This is a favorite soil 

 for the growth of tobacco, making an article with all the fineness of fiber of the black-jack lands and all the leafiuess 

 of the tulip-tree lands. On the low ridges bounding the streams black-jack, post oak, and chestnut abound, and the 

 soil is of the same general character as that in the barrens of Weakley county, and is well adapted to the growth of 

 tobacco. It is a black, sandy loam, with a deep red clay subsoil, which, however, is sometimes sandy. The bottom 

 lands were once boggy, but during the past twenty-five years they have been filled up by the washings from the 

 adjacent hills, and partake of tjie same general character as the hillside soils, but are more durable, and produce 

 excellent tobacco. On the road leading from Huntingdon to Paris there is a sandy soil, resembling that which 

 prevails in the northern part of Henry county, upon which some of the finest yellow tobacco of the West is grown. 



In 'Beutou county black-jack and post-oak soils prevail in the southwest, where are found limestone and 

 sandstone. These are the first hard rocks in situ met with in going east. The soils in the northern part of the 

 county are dark In color, with a reddish subsoil, and are characterized by a growth of the tulip tree, white oak, 

 hickory, and red oak. In the eastern part of the county many high cherty ridges prevail, and the soil has a large 

 amount of angular cherty gravel in its composition, being very much like the soils of Montgomery and adjoining 

 counties, hereafter described. 



The geological formations of Henry county will indicate the character of the soils. All that part of the county 



704 



