142 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[AiTGrsT I, 1883. 



to curl, it is going too fast, and tlie doors must be sliut 

 during the day and opened only at niglit to allow the cold 

 air to circulate through the room, the main object being 

 to make the tobacco dry up gi-adually to yellow, and the 

 ireater part of it will turn to reddish yellow called medi- 

 um bright. The temperature must be regulated Ijy the 

 doors and ventilators. This air curing makes a lighter 

 brown than the firing process, and can only be adopted in 

 a cUmate in which there is a certain amount of moistiu-e 

 in the air. It the tobacco sweats badly, doors and vent- 

 ilators must be opened and fires lighted and the heat 

 raised till it stops. Green tobacco is preferable to sweated. 

 There is another process followed in some parts of America 

 called sun-curing. In this process a scaffolding is erected 

 under the shade of a tree after the plants are hung up, 

 the whole is covered around and on the top with straw. 

 The straw is opened out when it is found necessary to 

 (juicken the drying. This style of curing is hardly adapt- 

 able to the plains of India. 



flues — Flues are iron pipes, fitted up a little above the 

 floor. The hot smoke carried through them finds its exit 

 in a chimney at the end of the room. The fires are 

 li<'hted in furnaces outside the building or just inside with 

 the furnace opening outside. It has many advantages over 

 the open fires, as no smoke stagnates in the room to taint 

 the tobacco and the risk of fire to the building is reduced 

 to a minimum. The temperature can also be regulated 

 better. For a room 30 yards long by 15 yards broad you 

 would reuuiro threr fui'naces ; these fiu-naces are built 

 (if pukka masonry. The pipes should be 15 inches in dia- 

 meter. Tlie pipe.s shoidd be arranged so as to spread the 

 heat equally through the room. Tobacco should not be 

 hun" directly over the furnace as the heat would dry it 

 up too rapidly. 



The higher the barn is the better it is for curing piur- 

 poses. The highest tobacco in a room is usually the best col- 

 om-, it you h.ave a thick roof, otherwise the centre is the be.st. 



Biilkiiu/, sorttDij "ml Ijam/iii;/. — The tobacco is generally 

 cured so far as its eolom- goes, in a fortnight or three 

 weeks'. It is left to hang tlu-ough the hot weather in the 

 barns, as the heat makes it too dry to handle. E.arly to- 

 bacco' may be ready to bulk downi in the Christmas rains. 

 No tobacco should be bulked until the sap is entirely 

 dried out. This can be seen b.y breaking the stem of the 

 leaf. If bulked with sap in it it will rot. 



Directly the rains commence in June ami the tobacco 

 has lieconie soft and pliable, it is bullced down in 

 heaps in the curing room in which it is hung. 

 The heaps are raiseil some 8 inches off the ground by a 

 small scaffohling made up of bamboos and sticks, so that 

 ,air can circul.ate underneath, and are covered over with 

 straw or matting. The toliacco shouhl not be bulked down 

 in too moist a coudition. The best order for bulking is 

 when the tobacco is just soft enough to handle without 

 breakin". If too soft it must be fired and allowed to come 

 in order again. When all the tobacco is bulketl down, the 

 bulks must be opened and the leaves stripped from the 

 stem and tied in "bauds" or "bundles" with about 50 

 leaves in each band. The band is tied round with a leaf 

 of tobacco tied round the upper ends of the leaves and 

 tucked in at the centre of the bundle; these bands are 

 now carried to the head barn or sorting room. They are 

 re-bulked here in the same way as before. When all the 

 tobacco is in the sorting room, the bulks are again opened 

 and the bands being untieil, the leaves must be sorted. 

 They should be sorted into 1, long leaf dark, 2, short 

 leaf dark, 3, long leaf bright, 4, short leaf dark, 5, lugs, 

 that is, all torn or dirty and very small leaves, red .and 

 bright, bemg baudeil separately and (i, green — six varieties 

 in all.' The sorting is most important and requires strict 



supervision. 



Care nuist be taken that the coolies do not 



make unneces.sary breakage in handling the leaves. They 

 should be tied in bands of from 15 to 20 leaves. The.se 

 bands are again bulked and left in bulk till packed. The 

 bright is divided into four varieties, shouM there be any 

 golden leaf. Ooldeji leaf is pui e yellow. In this case you 

 have 1, bright long leaf (that is golden leaf), 2, blight 

 short leaf, 3, medium bright long leaf, 4, medium bright 

 short leaf. Lugs are often raaile into strijis liy taking out 

 the thickest portion of the stem midrib ; two-third is taken 

 (Hit, one-third of the way from the tail of the leaf. It 

 sometimes sells best in this form. 



Packiiiij. — The tobacco is packed in hogsheads made of 

 thin staves. The hogsheads are made 4 feet in height and 

 about 3 feet in diameter for despatch to Europe, or else 

 after the native custom in bales. The tobacco .should be 

 packed as dry as it can possibly be packed without break- 

 ing it. It is generally necessary to hang it again in a 

 barn, the bands just .slung across the the stick, and fire 

 it till sufficiently dry. If too dry the doors may be left 

 open at night, when it will probably be found in the right 

 order on the following morning. The bands are packed 

 with the butts outwards and the tails inwards. There are 

 three lines in each row, two with their butts at the edge 

 of the hogshead and tails meeting in the centre of hog.s- 

 head, and one in centre of hog.shead. The next row is 

 commenced from the other side of the hogshead. "When 

 the hog.shead is filled it is pressed down with powerful 

 screws and refilled till it can hold no more. It should 

 contain 900 lb of leaf as nearly as pos.sible. 



G. C.UXE. 



Poultry.— Sjiriukle a little flour sulphur in nests of sit- 

 ting hens. Put sitting hens in quiet dark places, away 

 from disturliance. Sprinkle eggs that are about to hatch, 

 with lukewarm waiter. Select the best shaped eggs from 

 best layers, for hatching. — Uural CalifunUaii. 



To PitEVENT Potatoes Rotting in the Cellih, — 'When 

 potatoes are first put into the cellar they exhale an un- 

 pleasant odor. To absorb this, and also to e.xclude the light 

 and air, they may be covered with a little dry sand, and 

 if there is any tendency to rot, this can be counteracted 

 bya sprmlding of air-slaked Wme.—Slntttheni Fliinter. 



Whitew,\sh, — ■\"\diitewash should be applied as often a.s 

 once a year to cellars, outbuildings and to rough board 

 fences that cannot be painted. Take a lump of lime and 

 slack it with boiling water ; cover it during the process ; 

 strain it, and add a Uttle salt dissolved in warm water 

 half a pound of Spanish whiting, two ounces of glue 

 This is good for ceiUngs, walls, wood, brick or stoue. — 

 Southern I'liiiiier, 



A.\ Ostrich F.vem in" Egypt,— The ostrich farm in Cairo 

 extends from the Virgin's tree to the desert and com- 

 prises several acres of land surrounded by high mud walls. 

 The greater part of the farm is desert, the loose pebbly 

 sand being essential to the well-being of the ostrich. There 

 are at present on the fai'm 120 birds of more than a year's 

 growth, and of these 15 are fem.ale and 12 are male adults 

 — that is to say, they are more than three years old, the 

 age at which they commence to lay. Twelve of the adults 

 are now Laying, and three are engaged in hatching — one 

 being upon 22, one upon 14, and one upon 11 eggs. 

 Strange to .say, the male bird attends more to the hatch- 

 ing part of the business than the female, especially in cold 

 or rainy weather, and, in fact, often undertxikes the whole 

 of that tedious duty himself, being only relieved by his 

 better half at meal hours.— i?c(7(j7( Jlrrrantile Gazittt. 



Peacifes, in spite of several .successive bad seasons, are 

 still cultivated extensively on the open walls in Kent, and 

 in some instances with good success. It is very rarely that 

 the peaches in the garden of the Rei'. Canon Jeffreys f.ail 

 to perfect valuable crops of fruit. Last season they were 

 very good, and there is every prospect of an average crop 

 being secured this sea.son. Old half-dead trees are not 

 relied on, but one or two young trees are jdanted every 

 year, and these, in addition to being sufficiently vigorous, 

 are rooted and encouraged by mulchings and a clear space. 

 Under these conditions a healthy root-action is maintained, 

 and without which the proper ripening of the wood cannot 

 be rea.sonably anticipated. Peach houses or ca.sos, although 

 highly serviceable where there is a good water supply, are 

 not ab.solutcly necessary in peach and nectarine culture, 

 and proprietors of gardi'ns and gardeners .should not too 

 readily give up open air cidture. A'o particular xarieties 

 of peaches are considered indispensable. For instance, the 

 presumably delicate Noblesse perfects excellent crops. Bar- 

 ringtons, is usually very fine, and Princess of Wales proves 

 profitable. Royal George, although there, as everywhere 

 else, is very liable t) mildew, is grown, and has been for 

 many years, on account of its superior quality; 

 while for the earliest crojis the small but highly coloured 

 Early Alfred bears well, and is of excellent quality. — 

 Jnvrnnl of IlorticitJtvre, 



