The crop had already been assorted into six grades, as is ordinarily 

 done in Connecticut before the fermentation, and as the total amount 

 of tobacco was small all of these grades had to be put into the same 

 bulk in order to make it large enough for the fermentation to develop 

 properly. The assortment was as follows: 



All the grades except the first (long wrappers) needed "ordering." 

 The butts were therefore dipped for about 2 inches above the tie into 

 a tub of warm water, shaken out, and then put into cases or into a pile 

 in a warm room for twenty-four hours to draw before being bulked. 

 At the expiration of twenty-four hours there was no appearance of 

 water and no water stains on any of the leaf so treated. 



The tobacco was bulked on December 18 to 20 in the following way: 

 A layer of the hot fermenting trash tobacco about 8 inches deep was 

 put on the platform; the good tobacco was then put on this in layers 

 pressed firmly down by the hands, but without any other pressure. 

 The bulk was 6 feet wide, so each layer required five laps, laid down 

 in the way shingles are put on a roof, but no marks or damage was 

 found where the butts pressed against the lower leaves. 



As the first grade of light wrappers was rather dry to ferment well 

 and it was not advisable to dip them, layers of the hot fermenting trash 

 leaf were interbedded with them as far as the supply would go. 



The bulk when completed was 6 feet high and about 12 feet long. 

 A layer of trash was put on top and the whole was covered with woolen 

 and then with rubber blankets. Electrical thermometers, such as were 

 recently devised in this Division, were inserted in various parts of the 

 bulk, so that the change in temperature could be noted as the fermen- 

 tation proceeded. 



The bulk at the Experiment Station, having been put down on Decem- 

 ber 18 to 20, was turned on December 22, a day or two earlier than was 

 necessary, in order to see the condition of the leaf. It was again 

 turned on January 2. On January 18, or just thirty days after the 

 bulk was first put down, the fermentation was completed and the tobacco 

 should have been sorted at once and graded according to color and 

 length of leaf, or rebuilt into another bulk until this work could 

 conveniently be done. As a matter of fact, the bulk was allowed 

 to remain undisturbed until February 1, in order that it might be 

 inspected by tobacco dealers. It was then put in cases and sent to 

 Hartford to be sold. 



