NOTES. 197 
Of the Ripening of the Crop. 
_ « Much practice is requisite to form a judicious discernment 
concerning the state and progress of the ripening leaf; yet care 
must be used to cut up the plant as soon as it is sufficiently ripe 
to promise a good curable condition, lest the approach of frost 
should tread upon the heels of the crop-master ; for in this case, 
tobacco will be among the first plants that feel its influence, and 
the loss to be apprehended in this instance, is not a mere partial 
damage by nippling, but a total ae by the destruc- 
tion of every plant. : 
«I find it difficult to give to strangers a full idea of the 
ripening of the leaf: it isa point on which I would not trust 
my own experience without consulting some able crop-master in 
the neighbourhood ; and I believe this is not an uncustomary_ 
precaution among those who plant it. So far as I am able to 
convey an idea, which I find it easier to understand than to ex- 
press, I should judge of the ripening of the leaf by its thickening . 
sufficiently ; by the change of its colour to a more yellowish 
green; by a certain mellow appearance, and protusion of the web 
of the leaf, which I suppose to be occasioned by a contraction of 
the fibres ; and by such other appearances as I might conceive 
to indicate an ultimate pennant of the pa eta mF 
of Cutting and wag the Crop. 
« When the crop is adjudged sufficiently 1 ripe to proceed to 
cutting, this operation is assigned to the best and most judicious : 
hands who are employed i in the culture; and these being pro- 
vided each with a strong sharp knife, proceed along the respec- 
tive rows of the field to select such plants as appear to be ripe, 
leaving others to ripen ; “those which are cut are sliced off near 
to the ground, and such plants as have thick stalks or stems are 
sliced down the middle of the stem in order to admit a more free 
and equal circulation of air through the parts during the process 
