Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-01-04
American Tobacco Planters.

At the banquet given in Liverpool |
to Mr.. Hager, editor of the New York |
Tobocco Leaf, the chairman, Mr.. T. |
Cope, in proposing the toast, "The |
Health of the American Planter"
delivered the following humorous re-
marks:
In my fancy the planter has always
been pictured as kind Of good look
ing, burly, well-to-do, clear headed
man, given TO good dinners, and
rather fond of shooting squirrels.
Laughter. But one popularity of
of theirs undoubtedly is that they are
always on the brink of ruin. Never
was period known when the crops
paid them, no matter how high the
prices go. They really appear to car
nv on business from motives of pure
philanthropy. Renewed laughter
Ofcourse the first planting of tobacco
is always destroyed by some cause or
other. In this extremity the plant
ers borrow plants from their neigh
bors. Igather this from Mr.. Hager's
paper; but never yet could under
stand the reason why, under such
circumstances, their neighbors should
have any; but they have, neverthe-
less, and they seem always ready to
lend them. Well, soon after the Sec
ond batch is planted out, long and
severe drouth usually ensues, causing
the tender leaves to wither and fade
The drouth is generally succeeded by
deluge of rain, which washes the
plants up by the. roots and carries
them awayinto the rivers to be seen
no more. Laughter. Should there
be any tobacco still remaining, a pc
culiar worm or grub suddenly appears
on the scene and attacks it. This
grub eventually develops into fly,
and the fly, in its new shape, makes
a still further onslaught renewed
laughterl; but after all these risks
our unfortunate tobacco plant is not
out of danger; there stills remains
the inevitable frost, that sad enemy
to all vegetable substance. After all
this, as kind of climax, comes the
grand conflagration in the burning of
the barn laughterl. OF course, by
this time, we have resigned ourselves
to the temptation of shors supply and
| famine prices; but, bless you, quite
unnecessarily. The import season
arrives in due time, and tobacco is
landed in about the usual quantities.
The reports that have reached us may
have been perfectly true in them
selves, but spread over the vast acre
age Of America, reports of floods,
frost, or whatnot, are of little practi-
cal moment when we come to aver
age results hear, hearl. / have said
tobacco comes over in its usual guam
tity, but | would like to make a re-
mark or two respecting quality. The
great bulk of the American planters
are, | know, very honorable, high
minded men, and we purchase many
marks In the full faith that we shall
get hogsheads honOrably packed.
There are some shippers, however,
who pack falsely, concealing all man.
ner of short, dirty tobacco in places
where it will not be discovered when
sampling. But the attention of the
trade has been drawn to this; and
the officers of the bonded warehouse
are much more vigilant, and further
more, the. prices realized for such
falsely packed hogsheads is generally
the value of the worst portion of the
hogshead-not of the best; so that
the practice will no doubt soon be
discontinued. Hear, hear.l / only
mention this as a little incidental
circumstance. On the whole, we
have much cause to be satisfied with
our friend, the American planter, and
/ have much pleasure in proposing
his health. Loud and continued APP
plause. The toast was received with
great enthusiasm.