20 



CURING TOBACCO, JULY 81, 1898. 



Monday, July 31st. Gathered l varieties of tobacco and put 

 in Barn and started fire about 3 o. c, p. ni. Ther- 

 mometer raised to 90 degrees and kei)t at this heat 

 until 



Wednesday, Aug. 2nd, 3 o. c, p. m., Avhen temperature was 

 raised to 95 and 100 degrees, using about 4 barrels 

 water in sprinkling fioor to prevent drying too 

 rapidly. 



Thursday, Aug. 3rd, temperature raised to 130 to 140 de- 

 grees ; tobacco drying as fast as possible. 



Saturday, Aug. 5th, fioished drying and wet .basement. 



Mondav, Aug. 7tli, took down tobacco and packed away in 

 barn. 



Bi(l/,-iiiif. The tobacco was taken down out of the curing 

 barn as soon as it was (.-ured. and V)ulked down in the new 

 Agricultural Laboratory, so as to have use of the curing 

 house for more tobacco. In curing tobacco by artificial 

 heat, this barn is an ec(momical method. By commencing 

 to take off the leaves, say the middle of July that are ripe, 

 and continuing to gather the leaves as they ripen until all 

 of the crop is gathered, in this climate with frost delayed 

 until November, as much as eight or ten thousand pounds of 

 tobacco can be cured in a tobacco barn sixteen by twenty 

 feet, from the middle of July to the first of November. Anoth- 

 er important advantage in curing by this process is, that a 

 larger per cent, of blight tobacco can be obtained than by 

 curing with open fires. 



The tobacco, as it was taken down from the curing house, 

 was in as dry condition as it could be handled without break- 

 ing. Unless the stems were thoroughly cured, it would be 

 unsafe to place tobacco in bulk from the curing house as 

 early as was done in this exjieriment. As all of the tobacco 

 that was cured by this process was thoroughly cured before 

 it was taken from the curing house for bulking iu the Agri- 

 cultural Laboratory, it went through a moderate sweating 



