TOBACCO, CULTURE OF. 



725 



Tho plants on the scaffold Hhould be protected 



from ill.- direct rays uf the sun on tli- -ides, to 



:it -coivhimr, illl'I, it' 111-' Wi-athi-r il 



and pl.-asant, may ho allowed to n-niiiiii nut 



three or four days. It will cure riipidly, and 



the sticks may he moved closer to^-th.- 



It should, however, never NN* 



.ft or it, is cut, before ' hou-iii;.'.' " 

 The ipenrihg process supposes the tobacco 

 .lit without splitting the stalk, and is ;id- 

 d by many growers on the ground that 

 the tobacco cured by splitting loses weight 

 from the evaporation of a portion of the juie.-s 

 of the stalk. For this method of curing, the 

 gro\\ i-r takes a hatchet or short corn-knife, and 

 grasping the stalk with the left hand bends it 

 well to the left, so as to expose the lower part 

 of the stalk, and strikes with the knife just at 

 the surface of the ground, letting the stalk 

 drop ovor on the ground without doubling the 

 - under, and leaves it to wilt. Some cat 

 in the morning and turn the tobacco, if the sun 

 is hot, to prevent its burning ; others cut lafce 

 in the afternoon, and cart it in or carry to the 

 sheds the next morning. The liability to sun- 

 burn-is very great, if the sun is hot, and the 

 tobacco thus burned becomes black and worth- 

 In loading on the wagon, to carry to the 

 drying-house, the butts should be laid outward 

 on both sides, and great care taken to avoid 

 breaking the leaves. Arrived at the tobacco- 

 barn, or drying-house, it is ready for spearing. 

 For this purpose there must be provided a 

 Mitficient supply of 4 feet hickory sticks, rived 

 1^ inches by 1 inches, shaved and tapered 

 at one end to receive an iron socket (the spear- 

 point); and sawed maple or basswood scant- 

 litiL'.s 3 by 4 inches thick, and long enough to 

 reach from one beam to the other, placed 3 

 feet 9 inches apart for the sticks to rest upon. 

 The tobacco should be unloaded on a platform 

 or bench convenient for handling. An iron 

 socket, about 6 inches long, f by 1^ inches at 

 the big end, tapering to a sharp point, is neces- 

 sary; the sticks should be shaved so as to fit 

 the socket as near as possible, but do not bring 

 the stick to a sharp point, or it will not lie 

 firmly on the raiL Have a IJ-inch hole bored 

 three inches deep in the barn-post, three feet 

 from the ground or floor; let the hole be 

 bored slanting down a little, so that the socket 

 end of the lath may be the highest ; put the 

 end of the stick that is not tapered into this 

 hole and the socket on the lath ; take hold of a 

 stalk with the right hand, about one foot from 

 the butt end, bring it against the point of the 

 socket, six inches from the butt of the stalk, 

 grasp the butt with the left hand, and give the 

 right hand a firm, qnick^jerk to start the stalk 

 to split; then, with both hands, pull it back 

 against the post, and so on until you have the 

 stick full. The stalks should not be crowded 

 on the sticks, four or five inches apart is close 

 enough; eight or nine large stalks are enough 

 for a four-foot stick. Having filled the stick, 

 remove the socket, lay your stick of tobacco 



oti the floor, and goon sticking until the load is 

 all -tuck ; or it is a good plan to hare rails laid 

 on the lower tie and hang for tin- present as 

 your stick. While one or two hands arc I. 

 i<- load, anothi-r may be in the field ' 

 \i\X in another. In hanging, have a - 

 block and half inch roji.-. with a hook at 



secure the block near where you 

 place the hook in the <> -ntru of the stick of 

 tobacco, and let the man on the floor draw it 

 up to the one who hangs. There should be a 

 stout pine board, two inches thick, fifteen inch- 

 es wide, and long enough to reach from tie to 

 tie; this should be placed under where you 

 hang, to walk on. When the tobacco is 

 hoisted up, take it off the hook, and walk to 

 the farther end of the board ; hav 2 your rails 

 1 to receive the stick, and so continue 

 until your rails are full, then move your board 

 and block to another place, and so continue. 

 A sixteen-foot rail will hang about twenty-four 

 laths ; eight inches apart is about the distance 

 to place the laths of tobacco on the rails ; if 

 too much crowded the tobacco will house-burn. 

 Care should be used never to let a load of 

 tobacco lie long on the wagon or in a pile, as 

 it sweats and heats and is soon ruined. Al- 

 ways keep the tobacco cool. After it is 

 housed, keep the doors open day and night, so 

 that it may have the benefit of the warm and 

 dry air for the purpose of curing, closing the 

 doors against high winds and beating rains. 

 When cured, keep the doors closed. 



The labor incident to this process is. very 

 considerable; but, when properly performed, 

 it is probably the most efficient one for curing 

 tobacco; the product being as bright and as 

 quickly cured as by splitting, and the weight 

 being decidedly greater. 



Mr. W. W. Bowie, a large tobacco-planter of 

 Maryland, gives the preference to the pegging 

 process, as neater and better, though slower, 

 than any other ; he describes it as follows : It is 

 done by driving pegs, about six inches long and 

 half an inch or less square, into the stalk, about 

 four inches from the big end of the stalk; and 

 these pegs are driven in with a mallet, in a slant- 

 ing direction, so as to hook on to the sticks in 

 the house. It is then put on a " horse," which, 

 by a rope fixed to one corner, is pulled up in the 

 house and there hung upon the sticks, which 

 are regulated at proper distances. A "tobacco- 

 horse " is nothing more than three small sticks 

 nailed together so as to form a triangle, each 

 side being three or four feet long. 



The tying process presupposes the cutting to 

 have been performed as in the spearing or peg- 

 ging methods, and the drying-house arranged 

 with scantlings and drying-poles two or three 

 inches wide. The tobacco is then hung as fol- 

 lows : It should be begun on the upper tier of 

 poles, to which the tobacco should be elevated 

 by means of a platform and pulley, or it may 

 be passed by boys from tier to tier, to its lo- 

 cality for hanging. 



Hanging is done in the following manner : The 



