Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-03-27
TOBACCO PROSPECTS, In
SOURI,.

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EDITORS CHRONICLE II saw an ar
tiele liz the st. Louis Democrat a few
days since that read as if two-thirds
of the State of Missouri had al
ready been planted in tobacco. On
recent trip in this State. up in the re-
gion where they grow tobacco, | mixed
freely with tobacco growers, and made
diligent inquiry in regard to the pros
pect for crop of tobacco the ensuing
season. l could hear of only three
plant beds having been burned, and
they were burned last fall. The ground
has been frozen since the 18th of De-
cember last. and the planters have had
no opportunity to SOW seed. 1t is now
the BIRD of March, and were they to
SOW seed to-day, they would not come
up in less than four weeks with favor
able weather which would be the 23rd
of April before the plants would be up,
then eight weeks to become suitable in
size for planting, which would be about
the 23rd of June, which is too late to
plant two-thirds of the State of Mis-
souri, in tobacco, or even too late to
plant and harvest full crop in this
State. The season must exactly suit
in every particular if seed sown after
the 10th of March will produce plants
suitable to plant crop, which must
necessarily be late if planted from seed
sown so late as the 10th of March.
The prospect for an average Mis-
souri, crop is gloomy in the extreme.
In the first place the scarcity and high
price Of corn, will naturally induce the
farmer to plant full crop of corn.
The exceeding high price of hay is
another inducement to the farmer to
look in that direction, also the high
price of beef cattle is still another in
centive to produce grain and hay, and
still another drawback on the produce
ton of an overgrown crop. The pas
sage of that internal bile called civil
rights, (which originated in the lower
regions of H, and has been imposed
upon the people for political purposes)
has destroyed labor at least 10 per cent
Labor was unreliable before its pas
sage, but still more so now. So much
so that many farmers who would have
employed labor are now unwilling to
take the chances.
1t is an old adage that there never
has been failure of a crop of tobac-
co for want of plants, the truth of
which | do not dispute, but | do say
that many things occur now that did
not occur twenty years ago. No one
ever knew so universal failure as we
had last season from drouth Zone sin
gle cause) and is it reasonable to has
tily conclude that we will have a
world of tobacco this season when we
are liable to so many counteracting in
fuences. l have as much right to pre-
diet cold dry April, which will give
the fly the opportunity to eat up the
late young plants as any one has to pre-
diet that we will have nothing this year
but tobacco. And then can any one
see far enough into the future to tell
whether we will have suitable rains for
planting half the world in tobacco, or
whether we will have rain sufficient to
produce it if it should be planted, or
whether there would be late fall to
enable the planters to harvest without
frost) all the tobacco that could be
grown on his lands. | am unable to
see far enough in the future to JUS
tify me in publishing to the world that
we would be deluged and submerged
by the production Of tobacco this year.
We know there is strong feeling
amongst the planters for large crop,
but we should recollect that there is
large per cent. of the farming eommu-
nifty who make winter crops which they
never harvest. There are very many
contingencies upon which Uery large
crop depends, and it is yet too early to
become alarmed and commence giving
away your tobacco on the strength or
probability of being submerged by the
tobacco that might be produced by the
seed distributed'from this point.
We sincerely hope that our lands
may yet thaw out, and that our plant
ers may yet be able to sow all the seed
they have received, and that we may
yet have a reasonably large crop of the
weed produced in this State. But as |
said in the outset the prospect is very
gloomyindeed, for even an average crop
in Missouri.
NOppESDONnENT