Curing of Turkish Tobacco. 



419 



as will most readily j)eniiit tlie chemical and physiological chang-es 

 to take place. 



It is further necessary that the drying camp be sheltered from 

 strong hot winds, othciwise hroken leaves and unsatisfactory drying 

 might result. 



Third Stage of Curing. — It takes appioximately twenty days for 

 a particular picking of tobacco to dry out entirely in the curing 

 camp. When it has reached this stage it is brought into a cool dry 

 room early in the morning, when it is soft and pliable, and bulked, 

 i.e. stacked or placed in a heap, on a board floor or wooden platform 

 (see -fig. 6). If it is brittle to the touch and cannot be handled without 

 breaking, it is carefully taken to and hung in the wilting-room with 

 the green tobacco for about a day, where it will absorb the moisture 

 given off by the latter and " come in case," i.e. become soft. It is 

 then bulked. This maiks the third stage in curins". 



[I'kiifo hfi p. korh. 



Fig. 6. — Dry Tnhnrrn packed in almlk tn nndersj'n t'ev)iieiitati(in. 

 Thircl staoe nf curintr. 



The process of bulkijig can lie modified to advantage. Instead 

 of bulking the tobacco at this stage, the reeds may be hung closely 

 together on wire supports in a moderately cool shed, where the 

 tobacco is exposed to the changes of the atmosphere. This consider- 

 ably improves it, provided precautions are taken during very hot windy 

 weather, or during heavy or continuous autumn rains. Such tobacco 

 has the added advantage that it will not heat while hanging, and 

 certain obnoxious odours are probably eliminated before it is later 

 bulked or baled. Should the tobacco be hung close under an iron 

 roof, the heat is often so intense on hot days that some of the essential 

 oils in the leaves are volatilized and lost, and the tobacco will be 

 lighter and inferior bv this amount of oil lost. The method of 

 detaching the strings of leaves from the reeds and hanging them in 

 the form of wreaths in the shed has the same advantages, but there 



