Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1859 — TOBACCO OULTUKE. [ARTICLE]

TOBACCO OULTUKE.

['For. the Rensselaer Gazette.

Tobacco has. within I wo years past, been successfully raised in Jasper county. Numerous “patches” h: ve been cultivated, and several kinds grown, but each to a very limited extent, and on,ly for private use. Nme has been produced for market. Would it not be a valuable crop to taise for sale! The writer of this article has collected statistics of. the tobacco consumed in Jasper county the last year, in the virions forms for chewing and smoking, such as plug, cut and dry cigars and snuff, and ascertained that the amount of the trade' is six thousand dollars. Two years ago, an experiment was m ide in Defiance county, Ohio, wli ch joins Dekalb CoiTnty on the north-east line of this State, a:<d it was found that a c.tfop of tobacco, was more valuable to the planter, than a crop of wheat. That more money can be made at a less outlay of capital and labor. It was cured there, in the field under temporary sheds, and when dry, sold to Tatmans, ol New York city, wholesale dealers, who sent on agents there to purchase atid superintend the packing, who paid four cents a pound for “filler” and eight cents for” wrapper,” so called from the leaves which were suitable for the outside and inside of cigars. A portion w-as s lipped direct to Europe and the rest for manufacture to Ne v York. T.ie dealers said they bought no b tier article, anywhere ir. the west. Land suitable tor corn is best adapted to,its culture. Why could not the farmers of Jasper tutbi their attention to the cultivation of this as a profitable crop both for home use and export! The demand is on the increas •, and the prices for the manufactured .article have permanently advanced in the last five years, notwithstanding the revulsions in money, markets, stocks, and clothing fabrics. The culture is as easy and simple as the! raising of cabbages. Sow the seed as early as the season will allow in the spring, in a small bed prepared for the purpose, slightly cov red w ith earth, or raked in, or on a small patch ol burnt ground, where a brushheap or botto of a hay stack has been burnt otl, and when the plants are.’large enough transplant into rows wide enough for cultivation, say two and a half or three feet apart. Then keep down the weeds. It need no -hilling. Break off the blossom stalks, you do not want for seed, and cut' it up before the frost in the full. The dealers will come j to the farm, assort and pack it and pay cash tor it at the door. The prairies of Jasperi county are peculiarly adapted to its growth. I An acre will yield from fifty to seventy dollarsworth; and the entire labor, aside from building sheds, is but little it any more than double the amount necessary to raise and , prepare an acre ol' corn lor the market. There is not ready sale for corn, at fair prices,‘oftenelr than two seasons out of five, w hile tobacco commands a certain annual market. Sheds, for curing tobacco, i. e., for drying it, need only a roof; (besides may be ot rails or lath. When tob icco is cut up. it needs protection from rain and dews, and the sheds, should be both dry ami airy. Cultivators who wish to satis y themselves about this matter can do it with a little inquiry. We may recur to this subject again ***