320 TOBACCO LEAF. 



trouble if, in housing the crop, the new-land tobacco is 

 kept separate from that grown on old land, the ripe 

 from the green, and the long from the short. These 

 several classes may be put each in a different part of the 

 same barn. 



Upon the same plant there are usually two or more 

 ground leaves, bespattered with dirt, one or more worm- 

 eaten leaves, and several perfect leaves. Sometimes 

 there are also leaves blistered with red spots, or white 

 specks, leaves also that are bruised and sunburned, or 

 house burned. The worst leaves, the sunburned, the 

 dirty, those most badly worm-eaten, are first picked 

 from the stalk and tied in bundles of eight or more 

 leaves. This is the lowest grade and is called "Lugs." 

 The leaves that are slightly worm-eaten or injured, the 

 perfect leaves if sunburned or house burned, make a 

 grade called "Low leaf," or "Seconds." These are 

 usually tied in bundles of five or six leaves. The 

 remaining leaves on the stalk are termed "Good." 

 There are various sub-grades of good ; for instance, 

 "Medium," which may be short, or poor, or of bad 

 color; "Good leaf," which may be long and poor, or 

 short and rich, or it may be of good color without being 

 either long or rich; "Fine leaf," which has three or 

 more desirable qualities, but is deficient in some other 

 qualities. Fine leaf may be long, rich, fine fiber and 

 gummy, but have a bad color, or lack uniformity in 

 size. "Selections" constitute the highest grade in the 

 heavy tobacco market. These combine every desirable 

 quality in the shipping leaf, as length, richness, fatness, 

 good color, elasticity, small stem and fiber, silkiness, 

 strength and toughness, with uniformity of size. 



The best rule to observe for assorting tobacco is 

 not to mismate the leaves in a bundle, and not to 

 mismate the bundles in a bulk or hogshead. Long 

 and short leaves, rich and poor, bright and dark, 



