350 TOBACCO LEA.F. 



ping tobacco, when every bundle is packed closely to the 

 preceding one throughout its entire length, as shown in 

 Fig. 93. 



The best cutting leaf comes from Owen county, 

 Kentucky, and from the hilly land in Clermont and 

 Adams counties in Ohio. It is bright and thin and gum- 

 less. Mason and Bracken counties make a plug filler of 

 fine fiber, but of good body. Fayette, and the counties 

 in the bluegrass district, will make a tobacco of as fine 

 fiber as that grown in Bracken and Mason counties, if 

 topped high enough and planted closely enough. If a 

 very wide space is left between the plants, the tobacco 

 will grow too rank, and with large stems, which is not 

 desirable for either plug filler or cutters ; such is the 

 product of the alluvial soils in the White Burley 

 counties of Ohio. When well cured, however, such a 

 product makes a very sweet chewing tobacco. 



Manufacturing Leaf. In a. few of the counties in 

 Virginia, notably Caroline, Spottsylvania, Hanover and 

 Louisa, sun and air cured fillers for plug tobacco are 

 produced which are said to be the sweetest for chewing 

 purposes grown in the United States. There is no dif- 

 ference in the methods employed in cultivating this and 

 the White Burley, or the shipping leaf. The main dif- 

 ference lies in the method of curing. The tobacco is 

 scaffolded until the leaf is nearly cured in the sun, and 

 it remains on the scaffold from four to seven days. It 

 is then removed to the barn, where it hangs until it is 

 entirely cured. When the weather is unfavorable, the 

 tobacco gets but little sun. In such weather, plenty of 

 space must be left between the sticks so that the plants 

 will not touch each other. 



No fire must be used after it is put in the barn, 

 unless in the case of long-continued damp weather. It 

 is then fired gently to keep it from molding. The rich, 

 mahogany wrappers and fillers grown in Henry county, 



