78 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



It takes about three weeks of good weather to properly dry 

 tobacco which has been grown under cloth and for that which 

 has been grown in the open the usual time is about five week:,. 

 The leaves are allowed to remain in these drying sheds until 

 the mid-rib of the leaf is thoroughly dry. When this stage 

 is reached, of course the leaves are in such condition that to 

 handle them would mean that many would be ruined through 

 cracking and breaking. For this reason it is necessary to wait 

 for a rainy or foggy day when all of the ventilators are opened 

 wide and the moisture allowed to dampen the tobacco until the 

 leaves are in a pliable condition. Work is pressed rapidly at 

 this time and the tobacco is hurriedly baled in heavy paper 

 wrappers. Each lath of leaves is taken by itself, the leaves 

 pushed together and quickly fastened with the string on which 

 they were sewed. This operation requires practice, as the end 

 of the string is not tied, but so bound among the leaves that it 

 will not loosen in the handling which it undergoes during the 

 curing process. This bundle of leaves called a "hand" is the 

 form in which it is handled throughout the curing process. The 

 bales are pressed only by the weight of the person binding it as 

 he kneels over it to fasten the string. 



These bales are hauled to the factory which is situated in the 

 city limits of Belfast and taken directly to the sweat room for 

 final treatment. 



This sweat room is a closed room heated by steam pipes 

 which keep the temperature between 85 and 95 degrees F. la 

 this room are several very large trucks which will hold two or 

 three tons of the tobacco. The "hands" are placed carefully 

 in rows across these trucks and shingled over each other in such 

 a way that all but one row of butts of the leaves are covered by 

 the more pliable portion of the leaves. This row of butts 

 coming on the outside of the pile dries out considerably, but 

 when replied the dry ends are placed in the middle in such a 

 way that they, too, will become properly cured. This pile, as 

 already stated, often contains as high as three tons of the to- 

 bacco and in this high temperature and closely covered with 

 heavy blankets the sweating process takes place. A thermome- 

 ter is placed in the middle of the pile in such a location that it 

 may be drawn oiit occasionally to determine the temperature of 

 the center of the pile. The sweating is similar to that of a 



