The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-03-03
GADSDEN COUNTY
TOBACCO INDUSTRY
lcontlnusa from NINTH PACED

the hearings by the ways and means
committee were for, or previous to,
1905, and the money invested in and
the value of the crop which viii be
produced In 1907 are both manifestly
larger than the investment and the
crop of 1905.
The Crop This Year.
This year the producers in Gadsden
county will raise some 1000 acres of
sun and $500 acress or shade tobac-
co, compared to $500 acres of sun and
1000 acres of shade in 1906.
Nearly the entire tobacco crop for
this year is already sold, or contracted
to be sold, and at figures that are
startling in their significance. Buyers
are now ready to contract with any
farmer to buy his product at the end
of the season for from 20 to 20 cents
per pound for sun tobacco and So to
rs cents per pound for shade tobacco.
When you consider that sun tobacco
can be raised and marketed for eight
cents per pound, that you can raise
1000 pounds to the acre, and that you
can sell your crop before it is planted
at profit of from II to II cents per
pound, which means a profit Of from
s120 to size per acre, you can appre-
ciate something of the profit in the
simple industry OF growing sun tobac-
CO.
Enormous Profits.
But when you stop 70 think that
shade tobacco which costs, after the
first year, about 25 cents per pound to
grow and which viii produce 1,eeo to
1000 pounds per acre and sell for from
So to 20 cents per pound. that will
Yield profit of from $500 to $500 per
acre, you have a get-rich-qu1ck propo
sition that the fondest dreams of the
turpentine or timber men have never
yet contemplated
1t costs the first year to shade an
acre OF tobacco, TO erect barns in
which to cure it, and to plant, cultivate
and market the crop. from $3.50 t.
$1,000. and good crop WIN pay all ex
penses for that year The second
year, the shade and the barns beins
already there, crop can be planted
cultivated and marketed for about s25t
per acre, and with this crop the prof
begins
The highest priced TOBACCO is tn,
wrapper tobacco and of the shad,
product about so per cent make
wrapper, while of the sun tobacco onl,
20 per cent can be used for wrapper
A Quick Crop.
Tobacco is quick crop. The see
is bedded In January or February, tn
plants are taken from the bed and Sc
out In April, and the crop is cut, o
primed. and put into barns and cure
in July. BY the 10th of August tn
farmer has his money, ana by Decen
Der the packer, who handles the tobat
co after 1t leaves the farmer and bs
fore it reaches the factory to be mar
ufactured into cigars. has his none
and the tobacco is either In the Nev
York warehouses or in the factorie
themselves
The process from the planting of tn
seed until the product reaches til
cigar factory is a very interesting on
and particularly as it now mean
more money to the domes,fc grove
than IL ever did before and with pro-
poets OF the price going higher a
of the time.
The seeds are planted in bed du
ing the latter part of January and az
grown like tomato plants until the
attain a growth of five or six inche
They are then set cut In drills lik
corn and are fertilized and cultivate
until the leaves ripen or are ready fc
printing" Printing consists of cuttin
on the lower leaves as rast as the
ripen (the lower ones ripening first
stringing them with a course needl
and string on q small stick about thre
feet long. and hanging the strings u
in the barns to dry and cure. Til
completes the work, so far as tn
farmer Is concerned with the exceptio
of hauling his product to market.
When the tobacco reaches the pacl
ing house, which is the next stop afts
1t leaves the barn, it is put through
sweating" process in rooms that al
kept a certain temperature until tn
sweating" is completed. It then zoe
to the graders and packers where it
graded as to size of leaves, color. an
quality and is packed IN bales read
for shipment to the cigar factory.
Eleven Packing Houses.
There are now eleven packin
houses In Quincy and they pay out a
average-of $4,000 every two weeks /
their employees. who are mostly n
gro women and girls. This payroo
however-large as it is-represent
only small part of the money pl
into circulation In Quincy and Gadsde
county through the tobacco industr
Farm labor is paid from SIPS to ss.C
per day and It isAscarce at that an
while the crop is quickly raised Il
work to be done between the farm
and the packing houses is suficiei
to employ all labor on fun time ever
day In the year.
Volumes could be written on this t
bacco growing industry as 1t Is see
in Gadsden county and millions of de
lars can be made and will be MAD
from this source in. that county durfr
the next five years.
Gadsdcn County.
Gadsden county. according to II