210 TOBACCO LEAF. 



the degree of heat required at the various stages of the 

 curing process. The Snow barn principle is preferred 

 by the North Carolina experiment station, because it 

 enables temperature and moisture to be more closely 

 regulated than in old-fashioned barns. Approximately, 

 a pound of water for each plant must be driven out in 

 about 100 hours. According to Mr. Ragland's methods, 

 there are four stages in the operation : 



1. The yellowing process, requiring 90 of heat 

 and lasting from 24 to 30 hours. 



2. Fixing the color, requiring from 16 to 20 hours 

 at a temperature ranging from 100 F. at the beginning, 

 to 120 at the close. 



3. The curing process, requiring for 48 hours a 

 temperature of 120 to 125. 



4. The curing of the stalk and stem, which re- 

 quires from nine to ten hours with a heat of 125 to 175, 

 increased at the rate of 5 an hour. 



Mr. Ragland himself subsequently modified these 

 regulations, by advising the heat to be put under the 

 tobacco as soon as cut, and the temperature put at 90 

 for three hours and then advanced rapidly to 125, or as 

 high as the tobacco will bear without scalding, letting 

 the heat remain at this high temperature for only a few 

 minutes, and then allowing the temperature to descend 

 to 90 again. This process he calls "sapping." The 

 sap cells are opened, the water comes to the surface of 

 the leaves, and the yellowing process is hastened, requir- 

 ing only from four to eight hours, instead of from 24 to 

 30 hours by the old formula. 



Mr. George L. Wimberly, a successful tobacco 

 grower of Edgecombe county, lying in the Champaign 

 district of North Carolina, gives some information which 

 is appended. Mr. Wimberly strips the leaves from the 

 stalk in harvesting, and the method of curing is varied 

 somewhat from that used in curing tobacco on the stalk. 



