162 THE CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 



labourer may be put at £6 a month ; the cost of production per 

 pound at from two to three pence ; and the selling price at from four 

 to fivepence. These are averages, and there will be great variations 

 in the different crops. An average crop may be estimated at a 

 thousand pounds an acre of marketable tobacco, although at times 

 two thousand are grown. 



Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is considered the wealthiest 

 farming county in America. Tobacco is the staple crop grown and 

 the source of most of the wealth. In this county land is valued 

 at from £30 to £50 an acre. The yield of tobacco averages fourteen 

 hundred pounds per acre, although two thousand pounds is not an 

 unusual crop. The average cost of production is about four pence 

 a pound, and the selling price about sixpence a pound. The cost of 

 production is somewhat high when the large yields are considered, 

 but this is owing to the great value of the land and the expensive 

 barns used. The cost of labour may be placed at £6 a month. The 

 tobacco produced is all cigar leaf. 



In the cigar leaf section of Ohio, lands are valued at about £20 an 

 acre. Labour costs about £6 a month. The yield of Zimmer Spanish 

 is one thousand or twelve hundied pounds weight an acre. The 

 average cost of production is about £10 an acre, and the selling value 

 is from £15 to £20 an acre. 



In the cigar leaf region of Connecticut, land is valued at from £40 

 to £60 an acre ; the co.st of production at £30 ; and the selling price 

 at from £40 to £60 an acie. The yield is from twelve hundred to two 

 thousand pounds an acie. This section is very wealthy and prosperous. 



In Florida the lands are exceedingly cheap, where unimproved, 

 because they aie very abundant, £2 an aci'e being a high price for the 

 ordinary lands. "Where they have been improved, covered with canvas, 

 and irrigated, they are valued at £200 an acre. The yield per acre of 

 cigar tobacco may be estimated at one thousand pounds. The total cost 

 of production up to the point where it is i eady for manufacture is about 

 twenty pence a pound, and the selling price an average of four shillings. 

 Cuban tobacco grown in open field costs about fivepence a pound tn 

 produce, and sells atfiom ten to twelve pence, or even much higher. 



Throughout America, the wages for a negro labouiei' in the 

 tobacco field may be cstiraated at £2 a month, of a white labourer at 

 £6 a month, of an expeit curer on the farm £12 to £15 a month ; of a 

 cigar leaf warehouseman from £20 to £30 a month ; of the manager of 

 a tobacco-growing company fiom £1,000 to £2,000 a year, and of a sub- 

 manager from £200 to £400 a year. 



It is in the pioduction of the best grades of tobacco that the most 

 money is made. Tobacco can haidly be called a necessity of life, and 

 men who puichase luxuries aie looking foi' those qualities that will 

 give them the most enjoyment. The man who will object to 

 an extra twopence pei' hundredweight for flour will pay without a 

 muimui- an additional shilling for a tobacco that meets with his 

 appioval. Quality is the feature that counts. 



Besides the profit that may he in tobacco culture, there is this 

 advantage, that cured tobacco is not a very peiishable ai tide, and mav 

 be held, if necessaiy, foi' several years until the market is favourable. 

 or may be shipped long distances with but little risk. 



Tobacco is a crop that is peculiarly adapted to a new countiy, with 

 cheap virgin lands and a plentiful supply of ordinary labour. The 

 last is all inipmtant and absohitcly indispensable. A constant supply 



