Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-02-05
NO.. 6.

10 SneQS, III case OF rains. DTlSlC IOUdCcOS
are cured, however, by the fue process.
Barns are built of two sizes, sixteen feet
square and twenty feet square. They are
generally made of logs. The cracks are
chinked with clay to make them air-tight.
Beginning at seven feet from the ground,
tiers of poles three feet apart and rising to
the plates and collar beams nailed to the
rafters, are put in. On these the sticks of
tobacco are hung for curing. A twenty feet
barn-twenty feet wide, long and highs
sufficient for curing from three to five acres
of tobacco, and will hold nearly twice as
much as sixteen feet building Of the same
shape. a door is cut in the centre Of the
front part of the barn. On either side of this
door, at the ground, is a furnace constructed
of rock or brick. These furnaces are usual
ly two feet wide and Of about the same
height, extending through the wall five feet
into the barn, where they connect with the
fues, which may be made of rock and COW
cred with sheet iron, or which may be made
of stove-pipng twelve or fifteen inches in
diameter. These tues extend to within u
foot or so of the back wall of the barn, where
they elbow toward each other, as if to meet
in the back centre, but elbow again, each
coming out at the front between the door
and the furnace from which it draws. The
mouths Of the f1ues whence the smoke is
emitted are elevated about three feet, how
ever, above the level of the furnaces, in
order to acquire draft. Each fue, it will
be discovered upon study of this arrange
ment, makes circuit of one side or half
of the inside of the barn, having heating
surface about 46 feet in length. In the two
flues thus arranged, therefore, there are in
the barn 90 feet Of piping Gf pipe is used,(
giving forth heat. The barn being filled
with tobacco, the furnaces are fred. A
%I,nc, &c ,,1o in, n
barn. The curing is commenced at 9O'
Fahrenheit, and kept at that degree for
from twenty-four to thirty hours This is
called the yellowing process. The next is
called fixing the color. In this the mercu-
ry is run up to 10Oo and kept stationary for
four hours, thence raised 90 every two
hours until 11O0 is reached. Then in from
four to eight hours it is raised to 12O', and
in the next six or eight hours to l25'. BY
this time the leaf will be cured. The next
and last process is curing the stalk and stem.
This is done by raising the heat at the rate
Of 50 an hour until the mercury indicates
l7O0. At this degree it is kept until the
stalk and stem are thoroughly killed and
dry, requiring about twelve hours. The
lob is over. AS soon as the tobacco is 'in
case" or sufficiently soft to be moved it is
carried to the storage barn and either hung
up or bulked down. The cured tobacco if
slow in softening may he brought to the
proper condition by sprinkling the ground
inside the barn with water and raising q
gentle heat in the flues. AS soon as the
curing is removed the barn is ready for an
other curing, which may be put in at once.
is ripe and before frost, which winds up the
season. The final process is stripping and
this must be done wherf the tobacco is
tough and pliable, and it can become so
only in moist weather. If the weather be
dry stripping must be postponed. When
this work begins each separate grade is
taken off the stalks by-hand. A stalk is
taken up by the first hand and divested OF
the lugs or trashy bottom leaves. 1t IS
passed to another hand, who takes off the
next best grade and so on. Thus assorted it
is tied into "bands," and is thus placed in
the selling warehouses in loose piles and
sold at auction according to the business
routine of tobacco warehouses in tobacco
markets. 1t is sometimes packed in hogs
| heads, however, of from 400 to 800 pounds
each, and thus put upon themarket. The
latter plan is not pursued as a rule where
there is a warehouse close at hand:
And thus the, crop is made and disposed
of. 1t is profitable crop to farmers who
know how to manipulate it. Experience
begets skill and skill produces the leaf that
sells at a paying price.
But few efforts in tobacco culture and
curing have been made in this section of
country of sufficient magnitude to amount
to trial of it's merits. Enough has been
done, however, to fully demonstrate the one
important fact that it can be grown to per-
fection on a very large proportion OF the
soils of the State. The most successful eX-
pertinent have learned of is that OF Mr..
HughstOn, near Cedar Springs, in Spartan
| h,1r n consisted
of five acres of tobacco on common, thin
gray land manured with a common cotton
| fertilizer. The yield, / am Informed, was
| 500 pounds per acre. The product has not
vet been marketed, but samples of it have
, been sent to Durham, n. c., where it's mar
ket value has been placed at 80 to GO cents
per pound. This result is gratifying in
deed. Mr.. Hughston's success was in hav-
ing an experienced tobacco raiser to manage
the cultivation and curing of his crop. A
striking contrast to Unsuccessful beginning
is the experiment of Mr.. Hamp. Green, Of
this county, who planted seven acres, pro-
ducing 500 pounds per acre. His crop was
sold at Asheville a few days ago at seven
cents per pound. His tobacco was of excel
lent growth, butimperfectly cured and hence
the low price. He has learned much by
experience, however, and will plant again
this year. Even at the prices at which he
sold, aggregating $35 per acre, Mr.. Green is
sure that cotton on the same land would not
have paid as we'll. He will more closely
| investigate the secrets of the business during
the coming summer, and is likely to be join
ed by number of his fellOW-farmers. A
number of them are posting themselves with
the view of planting this year on an expert
mental scale. Spartanburg farmers seem to
be taking the lead in the new departure.
l have learned of number of prospective
tobacco fields in the neighbOrhoods Of Lam
drums, Cowpens and in the vicinity of the
city ofSpartanburg. 1t is not unlikely that
numerous small fields will be planted
throughout the up country.
In contrast to the tobacco figures above
given the result in other crops may be of
interest. The report Of the United States
commissioner Of agriculture of 1882 credits
North Carolina with an average tobacco
crop of 500 pounds per acre, which, at II
cents per pound, brought in money $50 per
acre. We have for the best reasons assumed
that South Carolina, and more especially
the northern and northwestern counties,
can produce tobacco in quantity and quality
equal to that of North Carolina.
Then see the cash value of other crops.
The same report of the commissioner OF ag-
riculture gives the following averages of
crops in South Carolina: Lint cotton, III
pounds per acre; corn, y bushels per acre;
wheat, $40 bushels per acre; oats l3 lilo
bushels per acre average cash value of
all the farm products in the State for
the year 1882, $7.M per acre. Practical
farmers can put these things together and
reason for themselves. The tobacco indus
try is but little known in this State now.
1t will become a general crop in few years