5 



a damp atmosphere or by interbedding with layers of the hot ferment- 

 ing trash. 



Start the bulk with a layer 8 inches deep of the hot fermenting 

 trash tobacco. The good leaf is put on this in layers, pressed firmly 

 down by hand, but without any other pressure. As the bulk is 6 feet 

 wide each layer will require several laps, as the hands are put down 

 in the way shingles are put on a roof. No mark or damage will occur 

 where the butts rest on the lower leaves when the fermentation 

 proceeds normally. When the bulk is 6 feet high it is well to cover 

 with a layer 6 inches deep of the hot fermenting trash and then cover 

 the top and sides with woolen and, if possible, with rubber blankets 

 to keep the tobacco from drying out. The temperature of the room 

 should be maintained at from 75 to 85 F., and the atmosphere be 

 kept quite moist by escaping steam. 



The bulk should remain from three to six days, according to the 

 condition of the tobacco and the rapidity of the fermentation, when it 

 should be turned or rebulked. In judging of the progress of the 

 fermentation it is very helpful to know the temperature, at least in the 

 middle of the bulk. In the light wrappers the temperature should 

 reach about 120 F. , when the bulk is ready to turn the first time. 

 The fillers require a much harder fermentation and the temperature 

 should reach 130 or 135 F. The temperature can be taken with an 

 ordinary thermometer inserted into the middle of the bulk through a 

 hollow bamboo or other tube, but a much more convenient way is to 

 use the electrical thermometer recently devised in this Division. 



The bulk is turned in the following way: Six or eight cases should 

 be filled with tobacco taken from the top of the bulk and then set to 

 one side. Then take tobacco from the old bulk and lay the foundation 

 of the new, continuing until the bulk is about half removed. Take the 

 tobacco from the six cases first removed from the top of the bulk and 

 put on the new. Refill these six cases with the tobacco from the cen- 

 ter of the old bulk, again setting these to one side. Proceed to take 

 the remainder of the old bulk and put on the new until the old bulk 

 is entirely removed. Then take the six cases that were taken from the 

 center of the old bulk and put this tobacco on top of the new. Thus 

 the top and bottom of the old bulk have become the center of the new 

 one. The outside layers are also put in the center of the new bulk and 

 the center layers of the old bulk become the outer layers of the new. 

 The bulk should now remain about ten days, when the temperature 

 should rise to about 115 F. for the wrapper and 120 F. for the filler. 

 It should then be turned. After this it should remain about fifteen 

 days, when, if the tobacco had sufficient moisture at the start, the wrap- 

 per leaf will be sufficiently fermented to assort and pack in bales or 

 cases for the market. The color will be quite uniform over the leaf and 

 well set after the fermentation, and the grading can be quite closely 

 done. 



