206 TOBACCO LEAF. 



wooden floor immediately behind them, on which stand 

 the men when stripping. The barn is 39 feet high from 

 floor to plate, with room for seven tiers of tobacco. 

 Ventilation is provided at the sides, at the gables and at 

 the roof. At intervals of four feet, there are horizontal 

 openings along the entire sides of the whole building, as 

 shown in the illustration, Fig. 40, each opening just 

 where the tier of tobacco begins. These openings are 

 about a foot wide, the doors being operated by levers. 

 This ornate affair cost $4,000 about 20 years ago, and is 

 far more expensive than necessary. 



In the rest of the Northern cigar-leaf growing sec- 

 tions, barns are generally constructed on the principle 

 above described. The Snow barn was used in Suffield, 

 Ct., for one season, but H. Austin, under whose auspices 

 the trial was made, says : "It cured our cigar leaf too 

 quickly, and left the stem hard and woody, the leaf was 

 of poor color, and had a smoky smell, which spoiled it 

 for cigar leaf." Although this single test is no criterion 

 for judging the method, it should be said that it is yet 

 a serious question to what extent artificial heat can 

 safely be applied to the curing of cigar-leaf tobacco. 



In Florida, barns for cigar leaf are made like those 

 in the Connecticut valley, but plants must not be hung 

 on the bottom tier, as the leaf might mold in wet 

 weather. Instead of single board doors for ventilation, 

 windows are made every 8 feet, 2^ or 3 feet wide and 

 10 feet long, hung by a hinge at the top. This is nec- 

 essary to admit air more freely at night, being closed 

 every dry day. The balloon frame tobacco barn is more 

 preferred in Florida. As matters of interest for com- 

 parison, views are given of the tobacco barns used in 

 Germany. 



A Wisconsin barn that has been patented is shown 

 at Figs. 49, 50, and 51. This building is 60x33J feet, 

 divided into two sections of 24 feet each, and these cut 



