254 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



This will make the cost per hundred pounds of Seed Leaf $9 72. Mr. Fowler, who made this estimate, says 

 in conclusion: 



This is not intended as an estimate for aii average crop, but for a good crop. By the application of less manure, the cost and also 

 the profits would have been reduced. 



He further says: "It requires from sixty to seventy days in most favorable weather to cure the crop." This 

 county reports the largest yield per acre for 1879 of auy county in the United States, it being a little over 2,127 

 pounds. 



George H. Gaylord, of Hampshire county, Massachusetts, estimates the value of good tobacco farms at $300 

 per acre; value of stable manure in winter, $8 per cord; in spring, $10 to $12. The wages of labor are $25 per 

 month without board, or $1 25 per day. Contracts are sometimes made to pay a laborer $80 per acre for doing all 

 the work required on a crop of from 2 to 3 acres of tobacco, or the crop is divided, the landlord being sit all 

 expense, except labor. The itemized statement of the cost of producing an acre of tobacco is as follows : 



DR. 



Cost of making seed-bed $050 



Weeding and attention to seed-bed 3 00 



Rent of land (interest on price) 18 00 



Stable manure applied per acre 80 00 



Cost of applying same 20 00 



Cost of breaking land twice 3 00 



Harrowing, lining out, ridging, and hilling 3 00 



Drawing and setting out plants 5 00 



Cultivating and hoeing 10 00 



Topping, worming, and suckering G 00 



Harvesting 10 00 



Taking down and stripping 8 00 



Bulking 1 50 



Use of barns, wagon, etc 15 00 



Delivering crop to market 2 10 



185 10 . 



CR. 



By 1,700 pounds, at 15 cents $255 00 



Deduct cost 185 10 



Net profit 09 90 



Cost per pound, 10.9 cents. 



It will be observed that in two items, that of making seed-bed and that of taking down and stripping the crop, 

 there is a wide difference in the two estimates. This discrepancy is easily reconciled, for doubtless in the estimate 

 made by Mr. Fowler the land for the seed-bed was burned over, which involved some expense, and this appears 

 further from the fact that in the item for weeding and taking care of the bed the charge is much less in his statement 

 than in that of Mr. Gaylord's, thus making the cost of seed-beds approximately equal. The wide difference in the 

 cost of stripping arises from the fact that in the latter case it was tied up in large bundles without assorting or 

 tying iu hands. The other items approximate as closely as could be expected. 



In Cheshire county, New Hampshire, $100 per acre is the price for the best tobacco farms. Stable manure costs 

 $1 50 per cart-load, twenty cart-loads making seven cords, or about $4 30 per cord. Labor is worth $20 per month 

 and board. The cost of cultivating and marketing an acre of tobacco, as estimated by George H. Gilbert, of 

 Keene, is as follows : 



DR. 



Cost ol' limiting seed-bed $1 00 



Cost of seed 25 



Weeding and attention 1 00 



Rent of land (interest on price) 7 00 



Stable manure, per acre 30 00 



Guano or superphosphates 12 00 



Cost of applying fertilizers 10 00 



Cost of breaking an acre twice 5 00 



Harrowing, lining out, and hilling o 00 



Drawing and setting out plants 5 00 



Cultivation and hoeing 10 00 



Topping, worming, and suckering 5 00 



Harvesting 10 00 



Taking down, assorting, and stripping 8 00 



Bulking 4 00 



Use of barn, laths, wagon, etc (i 00 



. Delivering crop to market 4 00 



123 25 



848 



