212 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Lands are usually rented for one-fourth of the gross crops of all kinds produced thereon. In the few instances 

 in which tobacco lots are. rented for money the best soils bring from $10 to $15, and ordinary lots $u per acre. 

 Lots rented for one-fourth the crop of tobacco, in districts which produce the best grades, sometimes yield a rental 

 of $100, and very often $25 per acre. Farms which contain a fair acreage of good tobacco soil are rented at from 

 $3 to $5 ; ordinary farms at from $1 to $3 per acre, the rent paid depending upon the condition of the land, the 

 fences, barns, etc., and the distance from market, as well as upon the productive capacity of the soil. 



Field workers in tobacco are paid from $5 to $10 per month, with board ; and by the day, in summer, from 40 

 to 60 cents, with board. Laborers hired by the year, or even by the day during the active season, are not employed 

 exclusively in the tobacco-fields, and are not paid no higher wages than ordinary farm hands. Experienced curers, 

 assorters, prizers, etc., are paid extra wages; but usually the farmer himself supervises the more important 

 processes. 



The cost per hundred pounds of tobacco, cured and ready for market, is variously estimated at from $5 to $8 

 for an average yield per acre. A poor crop costs proportionately more often much more than the market value 

 of .the product. An estimate of the cost of producing yellow tobacco and flue-cured fillers may be stated as follows, 

 the prices for labor and otl;er expenses being the averages for the state : 



Cost of seed-beds and seed, per acre to be planted jfl 00 



Weeding, etc., plants iu bed , 100 



Interest and taxes on laud, |W5 value 1 CO 



Twice breaking, at $1 50 3 00 



Harrowing, marking, aurt lulling 3 25 



Drawing and setting plants 2 00 



Cultivating-, three plowings, two Ijoeings 5 25 



Topping, worming, and suckering 6 50 



Harvesting and curing, with charcoal or flues 20 00 



Taking down, assorting, stripping, etc 9 00 



Bulking and prizing 4 50 



Use of horse, wagon, tools, and implements 10 00 



Delivery to merchant 2 25 



Total cost per acre 69 35 



This estimate covers the outlay for the production of a good crop upon good land with all the needed appliances 

 for cultivation, harvesting, arid preparation for market. The cost of ordinary cultivation may be reduced to as 

 small an amount as $40 per acre ; and that this sort of economy is much practiced is evidenced by the fact that the 

 average yield for the state in 1879, as shown by the census, was only 572 pounds per acre. 



Much the larger part of the tobacco produced in Virginia is cultivated on the "share" system, in some 

 instances the proprietor furnishing the land, teams, feed for teams, implements, and house and firewood for the 

 laborer and family, and receiving from one-half to three-fourths of the crop made, the proportion varying with the 

 fertility of the land, variety grown, cost of curing, appliances, etc. If the tenant furnishes teams, implements, etc., 

 the landlord gets from one-fourth to one-third of the crop. Sometimes " croppers " are employed by tenants, who 

 receive for their labor one-half of the residue after the rental is paid. When fertilizers are used upon crops grown 

 by tenants or croppers, the cost of such manures is deducted before the division into shares is made. 



From two to three acres, 8,000 to 12,000 hills, can be cultivated by each full hand. Large areas of tobacco can 

 be grown at less cost per acre only by the closest attention and careful supervision on the part of the planter ; and, 

 as a rule, small crops, well handled, are much more profitable, proportionately, than large ones. 



There are no authoritative and reliable data from which to estimate the production, acroage, and value of the 

 tobacco crops of the state during the three years preceding the census year. 



A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF TOBACCO IN VIRGINIA, 



HISTORICAL, AGRICULTURAL, AND STATISTICAL, 1607-1790, WITH SOME MENTION INCIDENTALLY OF ITS HISTORY IN 

 MARYLAND, PREPARED FOR THE TENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES BY R. A. BROCK. 



It is an unquestioned fact that tobacco reigns supreme among artificial stimulants in popular estimation. 

 No sooner were its peculiar qualities made known than it was sought after with the greatest avidity, until now, 

 after a lapse of a little more than three centuries since its introduction into civilized Europe, its use has become 

 universal, the world yielding to its fascinations in one or more of the forms of its use, either as smokers, chewers, or 

 snuffers. As many as forty varieties of the tobacco-plant have been noted by botanists, but one of 1 hem alone 

 claims here our attention in its connection with our narrative, that designated by Linnreus as Nicotiana tabacum, 

 and common to Virginia, to the material prosperity of which it has held the most important relation as a staple 

 product from the first settlement as a colony. Among the aborigines of the continent of America, according 

 806 



