TOBACCO. 181 



Question. The ventilator runs from end to end ? 



Dr. Riggs. From end to end, right on the ridge-pole of 

 the barn. 



Mr. Gould. How broad are the dropping boards ? 



Dr. Riggs. Not less than a foot, and from that to eigh- 

 teen inches, depending on the size of yom* building; sixteen 

 feet long, each one with four strap liinges on it. 



Mr. Low. If you were building a common barn would you 

 adopt that plan ? 



Dr. Riggs. I should not recommend drying tobacco 

 where hay was kept. I don't think animals take to to- 

 bacco. 



Mr. Gould. How do you know when the tobacco is thor- 

 oughly cured? 



Dr. Riggs. It will begin to dry, generally, at the top, and 

 dry along up. You will see the change. 



Mr. Gould. Is it cured when it is thoroughly dried ? 



Dr. Riggs. It will change color a little, but it will change 

 more if you have plenty of light. The more sun and air and 

 light you can have the lighter and less lively the color will 

 be. It wants to be cured just as our old-fashioned mothers 

 cured herbs. They picked their herbs in the fields and dried 

 them in bunches put in dark closets, and hung them up nicely 

 after they were cured, and when they took them out, the 

 plants looked as green as the day they were cut. But tobacco 

 changes to all sorts of hues, from a bright cinnamon color to 

 a bleached and pale leaf. 



Mr. Gould. Is it not a mere matter of fancy? 



Dr. Riggs. There is a fashion among tobacco purchasers 

 just as tliere is in the selection of stones. Some years they 

 will find fault because the leaf is too light, and at other times 

 they will find fault because it is too dark. You cannot very 

 well control that except by non-exposure to light and air. 



Mr. Lyman. Don't you know that that is an argument 

 used by speculators to bring down the price ? 



Dr. Riggs. Oh, yes. " There are tricks in all trades but 



ours." 



Mr. Lyman. I have been told that horses will eat tobacco 

 with great avidity. 



