The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-01
LARGEST OF ITS KIND
IN THE W0RCLD.
Great Tobacco Plantation in Deca-
tur County.

Great Tobacco Plantation in Deca-
tur County.
Bainbridge, Ga, Nov. S0.-Messrs.
A. Cohn & Co., the New York syndi-
cate, which owns $4,000 acres OF land
about sixteen miles southeast of this
city, operate the largest tobacco farm
OF it's kind in the world. This farm
lies wholly in Decatur county, running
sixteen miles north and south. and five
miles east and west. In a radious OF
eight miles there are $500 people liv-
ing, l,400 of which find employment
on the farm, and in the packing houses.
They also have 1000 mead of cattle, 200
head of mules, twenty eight horses,
thirty dwellings, 400 shanties, 100 to-
bacco barns, three commissaries, and
three sawmills, which supply the farm
with lumber. The annual expenses OF
running this farm is between $4,000
and $500, 600. This immense farm is
divided into twenty farms of nearly
equal size, each having its own super
intendent, and working from sixty to
seventy hands. Each farm has 100
head of cattle; six mules; and one
horse for the use of the superintendent.
Each superintendent plants from for
~ to fifty acres of shaded tobacco,
twenty-five acres of sugar cane, and
from sixty to eighty acres of corn. The
tobacco crop is the main crop, and
the cane is planted to keep the hands
busy during the spring and winter
months, when the tobacco does not re-
quire their attention. The corn is
raised for feeding the great number
of stock necessary to carry on the gil
gantic farm and thereby working on
the theory of raising the supplies at
home, which saves enormous expense
that would be gone to were they to
purchase their feed stuffs from other
markets
They planted, this last year, about
500 acres Of shaded tobacco, and have
harvested and have in their packing
houses about 100000 pounds of tobacco
This includes all grades. which runs
from filters up to the finest Sumatra
wrappers, ranging in price from so
cents to IS per pound. This tobacco
after it is picked, is placed in the diff
ferent barns on the farms, each farm
having about five barns. After 1t is
cured 1t is carried through the large
or main packing house, where it is
thoroughly steamed, so that it may be
handled without crumblng. After go
ing through the steaming process, the
filters, and the Sumatra tobacco, is
grades. 1t is then ready for the mm
ket. The filters are packed in palm
bark which is brought from Cuba, it
being necessary to pack 1t in this bark
TO keep the moisture i'm the tobacco.
The Sumatra tobacco is packed in
straw, which is brought from the
Dutch East Indies. They employ $50
women and fifty men to carry the to-
bacco through the packing house pro-
fVN Ton,
They have. besides the 100000 pounds
of new crop tobacco. about 100000
pounds of old crop tobacco, in the
packing house at present.
This company is now installing a su-
gar refinery, which has q daily capac-
ity of twelve tons. and in addition TO
this, a cane mill which Will grind $50
tons of cane per day. Their object in
putting in this refinery is to give the
majority of their hands work during
all of the winter months. They have
planted this season, 400 acres of sugar
cane, which will make between 5000
and 10000 tons of cane. from which
they expect to make from 500 to 900
tons of sugar. The operation of this
sugar refinery will be confined wholly
to the product of their farms.
The Sugar Refinery.
The sugar refinery which Messrs. A.
Cohn & Co. are erecting on their farm
will, in the event that it proves a sue
cess, have a great effect on the sugar
cane raising in Georgia. 1t is claimed
that the Georgia cane will make more
sugar TO the acre than the cane grown
in Louisiana, and il this is true Geor-
gia will soon rank as the greatest
cane-growing state in the Union. This
crop is at present a staple crop of
Southwest Georgia, as one can see by
the statistics, showing the number of
barrels of syrup made in this section.
At present three-fourths of the farm
ers in this county plant an acre or
two OF cane and some a great deal
more and raise this during their spare
moments, and the only trouble now is
to find a market for the large amount
of syrup that will be made several
years from now, as the cane industry
increases. At present all or the ma
iority of the syrup that is made is
shipped West, but at the present rate
of Increase these markets will not be
Ill l..