CULTURE AND CURING IN NEW ENGLAND. 241 



As far as the mechanical and physical conditions are concerned, all stages, from a free pebbly mass to, a 

 retentive fine clayish soil, may be found in New England. The surface soil is in some cases deep, in others quite 

 shallow. In the latter case, especially in the Connecticut valley, the subsoil is either hard-pan or stratified ferruginous 

 sand deposits or gravel beds. In some localities the quartz sand is the predominating soil constituent; in others 

 the hornblende, or the mica, or a ferruginous clay. The tobacco crop claims for its successful cultivation the best 

 soils well-drained, deep, mellow, clayey, or sandy loams with a permeable subsoil. Such soil is the best 

 protection against- untimely dry or wet spells. 



FOREST GROWTH. 



The crests of the hills are usually covered with pines, oak, and chestnut. The hemlock (Abies Canadennis) is 

 found in shaded ravines and on the rocky banks of the streams. The slopes of the hills and low plains are here and 

 there covered with red oak ( Quercus r libra), black oak ( Q. tinctoria) , wh ite oak (Q.alba), burr oak ( Q. ilicifolia). The sugar 

 maple (Acer saccharinum) frequently occurs in groves more or less extensive. The exhausted pastures upon hills 

 and along the slopes of the ridges are rapidly becoming covered with white birch (Betula alba, var. populifolia), in 

 some places pines, in others junipers (Juniperus communis J. Virginiana), and huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa). 

 Upon elevated clay lands are found the ash (Fraxinus Americana) and the hickories (Carya alba and C. porcina). 

 The original natural growth upon the river lands seein to be elm ( Ulmus Americana), the pines (Plnus strobus and 

 P. rigida), the red maple (Acer rubrum); in wet places the alder (Alnus incana), the poison sumac (Rhus venenata), 

 several species of dogwood (Cornm), and various species of the order Ericaceae, as rhododendrons, Epigaea, etc. 

 The beech (Fagus ferruginea), the butternut (Juglans cinerea), and linden (Tilia Americana), and button wood 

 (Platanus occidentalis) occur on some of the lower terrace lauds where the soil is good. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of the tobacco region of New England, though changeable, is remarkably mild and healthy for the 

 latitude. Its severity is tempered by the proximity of the sea, and by the two large valleys, the Housatonic and 

 the Connecticut, and the warm air from the ocean is drawn up into these channels and diffuses itself over the 

 intermediate high lands. 



At New Haven, observations extending from December 10, 1872, to October 31, 1880, show the mean 

 temperature to be: Spring, 37.3; summer, 71.l; autumn, 53; winter, 30.S. The greatest difference between 

 the highest and lowest thermometer in any one year was 105 ; highest recorded temperature, 95 ; the lowest, 

 - 14. The mean annual precipitation, 54.01 inches; mean of prevailing winds, south. 



At Springfield, Massachusetts, the observations of the signal service bureau from July 19, 1873, to October 

 31, 1880, show the mean temperature to be: Spring, 47.6; summer, 71.2; autumn, 52.l; winter, 29. The 

 greatest range of the thermometer in any one year was 102.5 ; the highest recorded temperature, 94.5 ; the 

 lowest, 10. Mean annual precipatation, 47.74 inches; mean of prevailing winds, south. It will be seen that 

 the temperature of the spring months is more than 10 lower at New Haven than at Springfield, though the latter 

 is 48' farther north. 



LOCALITY OF TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND COMPARISON OF RECENT CROPS. 



The production of tobacco in the Connecticut valley is confined for the most part to the following counties : 

 Middlesex, Hartford, and Tollaud, in the state of Connecticut; Hampdeu, Hampshire, and Franklin, in the state 

 of Massachusetts; Wimlliam, in the state of Vermont; and Cheshire and Sullivan, in the state of New Hampshire. 

 In the Housatouic valley tobacco is cultivated in Fail-field and Litchfield counties, and to this valley belongs 

 commercially the tobacco product of Duchess and Putnam counties, in eastern New York. New Haven county 

 belongs in part to the Connecticut valley and in part to the Housatouic valley. 



In acreage the crop of 1879 was in New Haven county 25 per cent, greater than in 1878, 20 per cent, greater 

 than in 1877, and about equal to that of 1876. In Middlesex, Hartford, and Tolland counties the acreage for 1879 

 was about 5 per cent, greater than for each of the years 1878, 1877, and 1876. For the year 1879 the counties of the 

 Housatouic valley report an increase in acreage of 10 per cent, as compared with 1878, and 5 per cent, as compared 

 with 1877 and 1876. In Hampden county, Massachusetts, the area planted in 1879 was 5 per cent, greater than in 

 1878, 40 per cent, greater than in 1877, and 15 per cent, greater than in 1876. The acreage in Hampshire county, 

 Massachusetts, has remained about the same for four years. On the other hand, there was a falling off in acreage 

 in Cheshire county. New Hampshire, of 10 per cent, in the crop of 1879 as compared with that of 1878, the same 

 as compared with the area of 1877, and a very great diminution, estimated at 50 per cent., as compared with the crop 

 of 1876. In the yield per acre there was for New Haven county 10 per cent, decrease in 1879 as compared with 

 1878, 1877, and 1876 ; and Middlesex, Hartford, and Tollaud show about the same. Hampden, as compared with 

 1877, shows 5 per cent, decrease, and with 1876, 10 per cent, decrease; Hampshire, 10 per ceut. decrease as compared 

 with 1878; Cheshire, as compared with 1878, 10 per cent, decrease, and the same rate of decrease for the years 1877 

 and 1876. The yield per acre in Housatonic valley in 1879 was 15 per cent, less than in 1878, and 10 per cent, less 

 than in the years 1877 and 1876. 



835 



