198 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



allow time for these fermentative changes. Later 

 more ventilation mnst be given, especially if the 

 weather is damp; otherwise there will be great 

 danger of mold, which will seriously injure the leaf. 

 After the tobacco has become thoroughly dry it is 

 taken down from the poles and tied in small bundles 

 called hands. A damp day is selected for this work, 

 so that it can be done without breaking the leaves. 

 These hands are banked together in a pile and are 

 carefully covered to induce a further fermentation. 

 If not damp enough, it is slightly sprinkled. The 

 temperature of the pile is carefully watched, and 

 before it gets hot enough to cause injury the pile is 

 torn down and rebuilt in such a way that the hands 

 which were on the outside are now placed in the 

 center. The extent to which the fermentation is 

 carried depends upon the character of the tobacco, 

 and like the cutting and curing, requires careful and 

 experienced oversight. After the fermentation to- 

 bacco is carefully sorted into different grades, when 

 it is ready for bailing and shipping. 



Botanical Features. — Botanically, tobacco belongs 

 to the great family of the Solanaeeoe^ which gives us 

 such other well-known economic plants as the potato, 

 tomato, Qgg plant, and pepper. Tobacco flowers are 

 adapted for self-pollination, and this has an important 

 practical bearing upon the question of seed selection. 

 When a plant of a particularly desirable type appears 

 in a field, if an ordinary paper bag is slipped over the 

 inflorescence just before the first flowers open, it will 

 exclude all foreign pollen, and the seed produced 

 will be the pure progeny of the one desirable plant. 



