The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1885-10-23
TOBACCO CULTURE IN NASH.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THAT
LINE IN TWO YEARS.
As it Was..As it Is. AS il Will Be.-TO.
baccO Warehouses Erected and in the
Course of Erection.

Four years ago traveller through the
ancient and honorable county of Nash
would have seen patch after patch of cot
ton struggling hard with the stiff, stub
born soil; corn, green indeed in the low
grounds but stunted and full of nubbins
upon the highlands. He would have seen
the lean and hungry farmer who always
paid his debts and kept poor in conse-
quence toiling long, living hard and com
ing out, at the end of the year, at the
small end of the horn. One thing further
might have caught the eye Of a close OBJ
server. In stray fence corners along the
road, and often in the chimney corner of
some colored brothers hut, grew sundry
stalks of tobacco, serving to make the
home made twist, manufactured by that
most primitive machine-the hand. No
attention was paid to the culture-the few
hills of tobacco were planted more for
pleasure than profit, and in all Nash cOun
ty there was no man who knew that this
uncOnsidered weed upon this soil which
yielded such poor returns in cotton and
corn, held within it the possibility of in
creasing three fold the value of the farm
ing land Of Nash county.
But the knowledge which should have
come sooner came at last. In the Spring
of 1888 Mr. Thomas York, a native of
Granville, then recently moved to billiard
ston, planted three or four acres in tobac
co. The experiment succeeded beyond his
utmost expectations. In the following
year, his neighbors and those aware of his
success experimental also Seven hun
dred acres were planted that Spring, and
the result was amazing. The desire to
raise tobacco spread like wildtire, and
As it is Now
ba ,rol6ap Iaaf iS yal1oxu in tboncap6
barns Cotton is dethroned and Tobacco
reigns as king. This year, it is computed
by those who ought to know best, 1900 to
5000 acress were in tobacco in this cOun-
ty alone, to say nothing of the crop where
the culture has extended into Edgecombe.
Mr. 7. B. Avent cultivated 70 acres; W.
L. Thorpe 60; Z. II. Ricks 45; Major Mayo
80; VIM. York SO; B. II. Bum 2S; J II. q
d. W. Thorpe 40; and hundreds of farmers
have from 5 to 25 acres, while scarcely a
man within the "belt" has failed to plant
some tobacco. The conditions for a good
crop have been unrlvalled and the large
yield has been SO successfully cured that
the tobacco Of Nash county will grade this
year higher than that Of any section, not
only in the State but ia the United States.
The quality grown here is of the highest
grade bright leaf, equalled in few sections
and excelled in none. The premium at
the State Fair last year was taken by Mr.
Dan W. Thorpe, a young farmer who has
been very instrumental in encouraging the
culture here, while DR.. Bullock, of Whit
akers when at the Agricultural Depart
meEt in Washington few weeks ago was
shown by the Commissioner leaf which
he said was the most perfect one known
to the Department. ''And where" asked
DR.. Bullock, ''was it grown?' Commls-
sioner Coleman replied: ''In Nash coun-
ty, North Carolina.''
When it was determined that tobacco
would be hereafter staple in this section,
the people, alive with new energy and
purposing to secure all the benefits accru-
ing from the culture, proceeded to build
Tobacco Warehouses.
Last year one was successfully cStab-
lished at Battleboro, which town has begun
of late to evince an energy which bespeaks
rapid growth and future great Importance
This warehouse is successfully conducted by
Braswell Il Son. At Rocky Mount a stock
company is now pushing the erection of a
very commOdiOuS and convenient ware
house, the completion Of which is looked
for early in November. A large number
of buyers have already signifed their in
tention of attending the sales and it is a
guaranteed fact that at no place in the
State will more advantageous sales be made
than at the Battleboro and Rocky Mount
Warehouses. Some steps have also been
taken to build another warehouse in Rocky
Mount on the Edgecombe side of the rail
way. A stock company has also been or
ganiZed at Whitakers and large ware
house will be erected there soon. Now let
us make
Some Comparisons
between the good old county in cotton days
and the same good old county III tobacco
days.
Under favorable circumstances the far
mcr in this section on an average realized
upon each acre planted in cotton $25 90;
tobacco grown upon the same land and
cultivated with but little more expense,
brings into the purse $50. 90 to the acre,
or 500 90 more. This on 4, 900 acres gives
as an increase over the product of the
same 4 900 acres planted in cotton, $40,
900. That is to say, the farmers of Nash
county are that much better off.
But this is merely the present, what as to
The Future!
Simply this All the northern part, tC
the extent of one half Of the county, OF
Nash is Tobacco land 1t is broad, un-
| covered with tobacco hills Next year il
is estimated that 10000 acres will be
planted, and that ratio of increase will nc
doubt prevail for many years, until the
whole belt is occupied. Calculate each
| extra acre as $50 additional to the wealth
producing capacity Of the county, and yor
will be astonished at the result. Never
| theless the cold facts and figures are there
and in writing this article | have secured
| the most reliable information to be haC
| and have taken care to admit no exagger
| atiOnS.
Let US hear the conclusion of the whole
matter in
/ The Moral.
The people who go around the country
with their tongues out painting for north
ern capital to build factories; the lntelli
gent citizens who declare that agricutur,
is running the State year after year migh
possibly use their talents to better advan
tage by studying the adaptibility of Ger
tain crops to certain kinds of soil and b.
applying the knowledge thus gained. B,
that means some section of the State ma,
be saved the unnecessary evil of living a
the people of Nash have done, workin!
hard and realizing poor crops when th
land around them was virtually full 0
gold-to be drawn out by tobacco. In tn
language Of Siddals, the soap man, "Don'
be clam Don't cape with your moutl
and lie still in the mud. Like the goot
people of Nash, find out what your lant
is adapted to. H. NJ. DANIEL.
Rocky Mount, N. c., Oct, 1885.