244 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



I. F. C. Allis, of East Whately, Massachusetts, in a letter to John L. Hayes, secretary of the National Board 

 of Wool Manufacturers, says: 



The cause for feeding so many sheep for their muttoii in this valley is the high value of sheep manure for tobacco-growing, it having 

 the effect on onr light soil to produce a dark-colored silky leaf, of good burning quality, suitable for wrapping fine cigars. This tobacco 

 bums white, and hits a good sweet flavor, perhaps owing to the potash it derives from the manure 1 . So valuable do we consider this 

 sheep manure, that we have shipped, since 1870, from West Albany, from 50 to GO cords, costing from $8 to $10 a cord, every spring. Ou 

 onr light soils, called pine lauds, after raising crops of tobacco, '2,000 pounds to the acre, we have sown wheat, yielding 30 bushels, plump 

 berry and heavy weight of straw, on land which, without this dressing of manure, is fit only for white beans. We of late years feed 

 with our sweetest and finest hay, and mix with our corn one-third cottonseed meal. By so feeding, our sheep fatten more easily, being 

 more hardy and better conditioned, beside increasing the value of the manure and rendering it more full of plant food. 



There is a considerable contrariety of views expressed respecting the effects produced upon the quality of the 

 tobacco by the application of the several fertilizers mentioned. In some of the schedules returned to this office 

 from intelligent growers it is strongly stated that heavy manuring is not only necessary to grow heavy crops, but 

 that in the heaviest crops is found the largest proportion of excellent leaf. Others claim that heavy fertilization, 

 while it adds unquestionably to the quantity produced, yet affects the quality injuriously as to texture, strength, 

 and silkiness. TlK-se contradictory statements can only be reconciled by the hypothesis that the soils in either case 

 are radically different in chemical constitution. Says one schedule: "Fish guano makes tobacco heavy, rough, and 

 scaly, with bad burning qualities." Others claim that fish-scrap is an excellent manure. The first statement 

 accords fully with that made by Professor Johnson as to the widespread prejudice existing among tobacco-growers 

 to the use of fish or fish guano on tobacco fields. Of the beneficial effects of Peruvian guano on tobacco soils there 

 is no discordance of views. 



In the Housatonic valley the land, whether sod or cultivated in a previous crop of tobacco, is treated to a heavy 

 application of stable manure, running as high as thirty or forty cart-loads to the acre, at a cost of from $50 to $00. 

 Cow-dung is said to have the best effect upon color, horse-dung, though making a good quality of tobacco, inducing 

 lighter colors. Saltpeter also is applied to improve the quality. All fertilizers, except special manures, are spread 

 broadcast over the land, and are plowed or harrowed in; and without their use it would be considered folly to plant a 

 crop of tobacco, as the small size of the leaf and the deficiency in gum and other qualities would make rhc crop 

 exceedingly unprofitable. 



In Fairfield county the yield per acre has decreased considerably, but no cause for such decrease is assigned. 



In Litchfield county the yield has slightly increased, owing to better cultivation than formerly and higher 

 manuring. One fact in connection with tobacco culture in this county is significant: the tobacco lands have been 

 enriched at the expense of the corn and grass lauds, for all the manure made upon the farm is reserved for the 

 tobacco crop. The hay, corn, and other crops have sadly fallen off' in yield, and it is a mooted question whether, 

 on the whole, the county has been benefited in an agricultural point of view by the production of tobacco. The 

 breeding of cattle and sheep, the making of hay and butter, and the growing of wheat and oats, have all declined 

 since tobacco has become a staple; and, though there is more money handled by the- farmers than formerly, the 

 farms are not generally kept up to such a high state of cultivation. 



It may be remarked, however, iu this connection, that the making and saving of manure all through New 

 England is considered one of the most important operations of the farm. Barns are constructed with cellars, in 

 which muck is spread, to collect and preserve the urine of the animals which feed above, and into this cellar are 

 throw ii all the droppings of horses and cows, which are worked over again and again by the swine that are 

 permitted free access to the cellars. It being found impossible to make a sufficiency of manure for all the 

 requirements of the farm, it is often imported from New York city at a cost varying from $10 to $15 the cord, a 

 cord weighing about 4,500 pounds. Artificial fertilizers are largely used on the tobacco crop, more with a view of 

 giving it an early start than as a safe reliance for carrying it to maturity. Peruvian guano is applied, as 

 also the superphosphates, in connection with stable manure, which act as a stimulant to the tobacco-plant in its 

 early growth, until its dense roots are able to reach out in tufted masses and appropriate the coarser material of 

 stable and other barn-yard manures. 



SEED-BEDS. 



Burning as a preparation is rarely practiced, and then only for the purpose of destroying the seeds of weeds 

 and grasses. The methods of growing tobacco-plants are like those given in Chapter XX of this report. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR TOBACCO. 



The soil intended for tobacco is rarely broken in the fall, unless it is a heavy clay loam, which needs the 

 ameliorating effects of freezing to make it crumble well. Upon sandy loams the work of preparation begins in the 

 spring. The land receives a heavy coating of barn-yard manure, and is plowed with a turning-plow to the depth of 

 from 7 to 12 inches. It is cross-plowed in May, harrowed, and smoothed. With a "ridger" beds are thrown up 

 from 3C to 42 inches apart and G inches high. These are smoothed off at the top, and with a wheel prepared for the 

 purpose are marked for planting at such distances as may be determined upon, these distances varying from 20 to 24 

 inches, nd sometimes, but not always, hills are made at the points marked on the ridge for the plants. The longer 

 distances given are for Connecticut Seed Leaf, the shorter ones for Havana Seed. When it is desired to supplement 



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