200 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Lands nearly level can be better plowed and cultivated, hold manure better, and can more easily be made rich. 

 On such the Medley Pryor, White Stern, Frederick, Bull-face, and other dark varieties succeed best. The same 

 varieties on rolling lands are finer in texture and brighter in color than when raised on level fields. 



Tobacco of first-rate quality may be raised on lands so hilly and steep that they cannot be plowed, and where the 

 hand-hoe alone can be used to cultivate the crop. As an economical method to bring such lands into cultivation 

 and to get them seeded down to grass nothing excels tobacco as a first and a second crop to kill out the remains of 

 forest growth ; for any crop which the soil is capable of producing will do well after tobacco. 



The adaptation of soils to certain varieties is not well understood. The yellow varieties are grown to greatest 

 perfection on the feldspathic, micaceous, and slaty soils, all siliceous, gray in color at the surface, and yellow, running 

 to red, in the subsoil. The dark varieties do best on rich, black alluvials, or heavy clays. 



PRESENT QUALITY OP VIRGINIA TOBACCO. 



As compared with the product ten years ago, the tobacco grown in most sections of this state has deteriorated 

 in quality, but in a few counties there has been a marked improvement. 



The agricultural depression, low prices, and the scarcity of skilled labor have discouraged farmers ; less fertilizers 

 are used ; less pains are taken, and the condition of the soil has been steadily declining for several years. The old 

 "hands", trained in the operations of priming, topping, assorting, and the various details of cultivation and 

 management, are dying out, and the younger generation is decidedly inferior to the old as trained and skilled 

 laborers. 



The prices received for a few years past have been scarcely sufficient to meet the cost of production, while 

 the area of production has been reduced. The endeavor has been to reduce the cost of production rather than to 

 increase the value of the product. 



In Goochland, Caroline, Louisa, and Hanover counties of the Middle division, north of the James river, there has 

 been a general improvement of quality, farmers having been stimulated by the wide difference in prices between the 

 low and the high grades. In some portions of Hanover county the quality has depreciated, especially the product of 

 the sandy plateau, but in Louisa county*some of the colored planters are raising the finest sun- and air-cured tobacco. 



In Buckingham, Cumberland, Amelia, Appomattox, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, and Greensville, all 

 south-side counties, the quality of the general product has materially deteriorated, although the most careful planters 

 are raising a better article than formerly. Too much poor land is put in tobacco, and there is too much disposition 

 to rely upon commercial fertilizers, to the neglect of yard and stable manures. Tenants, the majority of whom are 

 negroes, raise, as a rule, an inferior grade, which is forced into market through local dealers in an unfit condition. 

 In Lunenburg tobacco raised by experienced farmers has increased in quantity per acre and improved very much in 

 quality. The bulk of the crop of this county, however, is grown by colored people, inexperienced and unskilled, 

 who pay but little attention to the management of their tobacco. In Dinwiddie the quality of the crop has improved. 

 Farmers are making more domestic manures, and are studying more carefully the needs of the tobacco-plant, and there 

 exists a spirited rivalry among a large number of planters as to who shall raise the finest tobacco and get the best 

 prices. In Pittsylvania the quality has greatly improved in the last ten years, owing to improved methods of 

 handling and curing, as well as to better cultivation and management of the crop in the field. In Halifax county 

 there has been considerable falling oft' in the quantity and in the quality of dark shipping grades ; but now planters 

 are attempting, with fair success, the production of bright grades. 



In Greene, Franklin, and Henry counties of the Piedmont district the quality of the general product has 

 improved, the curing being better on account of improved processes, and planters are stimulated to attempt the 

 production of the finer grades by the higher prices. In Amherst and Bedford counties quality appears to vary to 

 some extent with the seasons. If prices are good and the seasons favorable, there is a disposition to overcrop, 

 resulting in an inferior quality from want of proper care : prices decline ; there is a falling off in production ; a shorter 

 crop, more care, a better grade, and better prices. The tobacco buyers of Lynchburg claim that the quality of Bedford 

 county tobacco has deteriorated very much, and express the opinion that this is caused by the use of commercial 

 fertilizers. Although the tobacco is large and leafy, it is said to be light and chaffy as compared with the former 

 product. 



In Floyd and the other counties of the Blue Eidge district the product has improved. 



In Rockbridge, Botetourt, Craig, and Roanoke counties, of the Valley and Appalachia districts, there has been 

 some improvement in quality, and more attention is paid to curing, assorting, sizing, packing, etc. The tobacco of 

 Montgomery county has improved. In Giles, Pulaski, Bland, Tazewell, Russell, Scott, and Washington counties 

 the culture of tobacco is comparatively a new industry. 



PROPORTIONAL ACREAGE IN TOBACCO. 



In the Middle and Piedmont districts about 6 per cent, of the arable soil of the tobacco district is planted in 

 tobacco ; a larger percentage on the small farms and smaller on the large farms. A farm with 100 acres or less 

 of cleared land may have from 5 to 10 acres in tobacco, while it is not uncommon to find one of 1,000 acres near by 

 with only 30 to 50 acres planted to that crop. 

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