HEAVY SHIPPING TOBACCO. 319 



in the center. Or there may be, by making the bulk 

 wider, several layers in the center. If taken down when 

 the leaf is limp and the stem supple more than half way 

 its length, it is in a safe condition, and will not have to 

 be reordered before it is taken to market. If the to- 

 bacco has too much humidity in it, or, as the expression 

 is, "too high in case," it will funk when the weather 

 becomes warm. In such a condition, it is too high 

 either to prize at home or to take loose to market, unless 

 it be to a stemmery, where tobacco high in case is re- 



l ^m 



iL 



'W^ 



FIG. 95. CARRYING TOBACCO TO MARKET. 

 Primitive method still in use in North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. 



quired. It is the safest plan, therefore, to have the 

 order precisely right, so that it will not be necessary to 

 hang it up a second time. 



After the tobacco has been taken down, stripping 

 begins. First of all, the leaves on each plant are as- 

 sorted by separating the various colors and qualities, 

 and afterwards arranging them into various grades. In 

 the same crop there are often many kinds, as bright and 

 dark, heavy and light, long and short, the result of dif- 

 ferent plantings, inequality in the fertility of the soils, 

 and of various exposures of the land. It will save much 



