The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-30
j. The Culture Of Tobacco.
From the keo,rcc Courier.

properly followed, has never failed tc
yield large profit to the farmer and to
produce general wealth and development
In an article sometime back we showed
from statistics compiled by the United
States Department of Agriculture that
the average yield per acre in those States
where tobacco was grown varied from $50
to 500 in value, and further that from
the character of our soil and climate, as
we'll as from experiments on q small
scale, we could in this county count with
certainty on an average return from to-
bacco culture of $40 to $50 per acre.
Besides, its growth does not conflict ma.
terially with other staples planted here,
and its best yield can generally be real
lied from fresh lands, which planted in
corn or cotton do not prove remunerative.
We do not say that any one crop should
be grown to the exclusion OF others, but
surely staple which commands cash at
all times, yields more profitable return
than cotton and is we'll adapted to our
soil and climate, should not be neglected.
The want of good mandatory here
and the fear of getting into trouble with
the revenue laws have contributed large.
ly to divert the attention and labor of
our people from tobacco. This difficulty
need no longer be apprehended. Mr.. E..
A. Pendley has opened and put into full
operation the tobacco factory of Col. J..
j. Norton, which had been suspended
sometime, and is now buying leaf tobacco
at the highest cash prices. He has en-
gagged in the business Capt. France, an
experienced tobacconist, and one who for
years has made the curing and manufac.
ture of tobacco specially. In fact he
is said to have been the moving spirit in
establishing the tobacco industry in Bun.
combe county, North Carolina, some
years ago, having managed successfully
the earliest factories put up at Asheyille.
Under his supervision here Mr.. Pendley
is sending out some first quality of chew
ing tobacco, and if our people will grow
tobacco for market they cannot only find
ready sale for it at good prices, but they
will derive profit to themselves and i'm
prove the value of lands and the wealth
of our county.
The subjoined article shows what its
culture has done for Buncombe county
in short time, not only in annual in
come in money, but in the increased
value of lands and the comfort and pro.
gress of the people of that county. We
have equal if not superior facilities to
market, as good lands and climate as
suitable for the profitable growth of this
staple. All that has been accomplished
in Buncombe county can be here and
even more, for the beneficial results of
tobacco culture there are yet in their in
fancy.
We commend to our readers a careful
perusal of the following article taken
from the Greenyille, East Tennessee,
Democrat, and hope they will give the
culture of tobacco fair trial, feeling as.
sured it will rebound to their interests:
"Buncombe, North Carolina, is coun-
ty of mountains piled on mountains.
Fifteen years ago all agricultural efforts,
rude at the very best, was confined to the
rich coyes and narrow, fertile valleys,
walled in between them. Generally, the
people lived in log huts and subsisted on
beat hominy, razor backed hogs and pine
top whiskey. There was little education,
little enterprise and general thriftless.
ness. It is true that there were cultured
and wealthy citizens in Buncombe, and
Asheville, though an isolated and monot-
onous town, was the center of q good
deal of refinement and elegant taste and
opulence. Nevertheless, in the main,
our structures on old Buncombe are true.
But what change is now presented ?
It is no longer 'old' Buncombe, but pro-
gressive, stirring, wide awake new Bun
combe. In the last ten years she has
leaped forward half century in civili-
zation, refinement, prosperity and wealth.
The farmers are more enlightened and
read more newspapers. Elegant resi-
dences have taken the place Of barbarian
novels. The varied, romantic, rugged
landscapes have been beautifed by the
magic hand of educated taste and cul-
ture. Asheville is growing into beau
tiful, attractive city, pulsating with a
strong, healthy tide of buoyant life and
ceaseless activity. The telegraph and
the railroad have brought her into con.
tact with the outside world. She has
large stores, fine hotels, good newspapers,
excellent schools, splendid churches,
palatial residences and enterprising,
moral, Christian population, and business
of all kinds is conducted on a grand and
scale. Every summer
Asheville is entertaining from 600 to 800
visitors. The circulating medium is per-
haps 500 now where it was only 81 ten
years ago. What magic has wrought
this marvellous transformation? A word
of three syllables will answer this query
Tobacco. If our inelegancy of express
sion is excusable, the whole population
of Buncombe has gone ravin distracted
on the tobacco question, and the area,
increasing every year, planted in the
weed, approaches the wonderful. The
barren mountain sides produce per acre
twenty, thirty and forty dollars worth of
tobacco. Ten years ago these steep, rug
ged declivities could be purchased at
from twenty cents to one dollar; now
they sell readily at from thirty to fifty
dollars. There are four thoroughly
equipped tobacco factories in Asheville,
each doing business en- q large scale and
a large capital. Its tobacco market is
visited by buyers from all over the coun-
try. The tobacco raised in Buncombe is
of excellent quality. Hundreds of thou
sands of dollars are invested in its pro-
duction and manufacture. There is an
abundance of money in the community,
and cash down is the motto and rule of
every trade. Men of very limited means
q few years ago are amassing ample for
tunes, and for everybody who will work
there is bright future.
Fright here is a lesson that Greene
county can learn, an example that she
can follow with profit. She has hun
dreds, yes, thousands of acres in every
respect similar to the valuable tobacco
lands of Buncombe. Her wild, rugged
mountains and hillsides, if cultivated on