HEAVY SHIPPING TOBACCO. 323 



are compelled to rehandle it. More money is made by 

 properly assorting, handling and "ordering" the to- 

 bacco crop than by growing it. When the crop is 

 hurried to market in a condition that it will not keep, 

 the rehandlers of tobacco and the local manufacturers 

 are the only competitors for it. The foreign buyers are 

 excluded by its unsafe condition. 



It must not be inferred that it is necessary to bulk 

 the tobacco before it can be stripped. Many successful 

 managers of tobacco prefer to take it down from the 

 tier poles only as it is required for stripping. The 

 leaves are much more readily examined by this method, 

 for they are not pressed together as they are after lying in 

 bulk. Much time is, therefore, saved in assorting. The 

 chief advantages in having it in bulk are : 1. That 

 it is always in condition to be handled, and in bad 

 weather the time may be utilized in stripping, while the 

 tobacco if hanging up would be dry. 2. If taken 

 down in the right condition or order, it need not be 

 rehung on the sticks and tier poles after it is stripped. 

 3. It is less liable to be weather-beaten, or broken by 

 winds that sometimes find entrance to the barns. 

 Tobacco is. also injured by frequent alternations of dry- 

 ness and humidity, and these changes cannot take place 

 when in bulk. 



" Ordering" Heavy Shipping Leaf. Should it hap- 

 pen that the tobacco, when stripped, is too high in case 

 for prizing, it must be rehung on the sticks. It often 

 occurs that the leafy part is in right order, but the stem 

 is too damp, or the reverse may happen, that the stem 

 is in right condition, but the leafy part is either too dry 

 or too damp. The leafy part should be pliant, but not 

 sufficiently so to show translucent spots when pressed 

 between the finger and thumb. The stems should be 

 pliant, but not limp, and they should break a few inches 

 below the head when the bundle is bent at right angles. 



