252 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



COST OF TOBACCO PRODUCTION. 



In the Hartford district, composed of the counties of Middlesex, Hartford, and Tolland, the price of the best 

 tobacco lands will average $200 per acre. The rate of wages during the active farming season, usually from the 

 middle of March to the middle of November, is $15 per mouth for men ; by the day, in summer, from $1 25 to $1 50. 

 At the period when the ravages of the horn-worm are most destructive it is frequently necessary to employ extra 

 hands, and it is always necessary to do so in harvesting. The following estimate of the cost of cultivating, 

 handling, etc., one acre in East Hartford will be found very nearly correct : 



Making seed-bed $2 50 



Seed 25 



Weeding and attention to plant-bed 1 50 



Rent of land (interest on value) 12 00 



Stable manure, six cords, at $8 48 00 



Three hundred pounds guano, at $56 per ton 8 40 



Cost of applying manure - 4 00 



Plowing land twice 4 00 



Harrowing and ridging 3 00 



Making hills 1 50 



Drawing and setting plants 4 00 



Cultivating and hoeing three times, each $3 9 00 



Topping, worming, and suckering 15 00 



Harvesting 12 00 



Taking down, assorting, and stripping 20 00 



Bulking - 1 00 



Use of barn, laths, wagon, etc 12 00 



Delivering to market 3 00 



Total... . 1(51 15 



A plan very generally adopted by the planters of the Connecticut valley is to contract to pay 3 cents per pound 

 to tho laborer for all the work necessary to be done in cultivating and handling the crop until ready for market, 

 the landlord furnishing land, team, implements, barns, etc., and delivering the crop to market. The use of team, 

 implements, etc., is estimated to be worth 1 cent per pound. The cost of producing a crop of one acre on the basis 

 of this contract is : 



Labor for one acre $00 00 



Use of team and implements 20 00 



Manure (average amount), six cords, at $8 48 00 



Three hundred pounds guano, at f 56 per ton , 8 40 



Use of sheds and laths 12 00 



Kent of land (interest on investment) 12 00 



Delivering crop to market 3 00 



Total.. . 163 40 



When twine is used, $1 should be added to the cost. This makes the cost about the same, whether the labor is 

 employed by the pound or in the ordinary way. Both these estimates have been made on the basis of a yield of 2,000 

 pounds per acre, which is understood to be the yield of the best crops for the best portion of the Connecticut 

 valley. The first estimate makes the cost $8 06 per hundred pounds, and the second $8 17. Assuming the average 

 yield per acre of the Connecticut valley to be as the Tenth Census indicates, 1,620 pounds, the cost per hundred 

 pounds to produce it would be, on the basis of the flrtt estimate, $9 95, and on the basis of the second estimate 

 $10 09. The average value per acre for the whole of New England being $217 1 9, from which deduct cost, $162 27, 

 would leave a net profit per acre of $54 92. 



In the Honsatonic valley the cost of raising tobacco does not vary much from the cost in the Connecticut valley. 

 Labor costs from 3 to 3 cents per pound. The whole expense for an acre of Connecticut Seed Leaf grown in 



the Housatonic valley is given as follows : 



DR. 



Labor f 60 00 



Manure 50 00 



Use of land (interest on investment) .. 12 00 



Use of team and tools 20 00 



Use of barn and laths 10 00 



152 00 



CK. 



By 2,000 pounds of tobacco, divided as follows : 



1,200 pounds, at 25 cents $300 00 



666 pounds, at 10 cents 66 60 



134 pounds, at 5 cents - 6 70 



373 30 

 Deduct cost... 152 00 



Profit 221 30 



Cost to produce, per 100 pounds, $7 60. 

 846 



