366 TOBACCO LEAF. 



tobacco districts could not be employed where the plants 

 are very large and very heavy without the greatest in- 

 jury from breaking and bruising the leaves. The 

 ripened plants of yellow tobacco are small, with delicate 

 midrib, and may, with a little care, be handled with 

 safety without being wilted. The dangers to be appre- 

 hended from sunburn, rains, dirt, and bruising from 

 handling, are all lessened by putting the plants on the 

 sticks as they are cut. 



MANAGEMENT OF YELLOW TOBACCO AFTER 

 CURING. 



Curing yellow tobacco has been described in Chap- 

 ter X. Generally the following morning, after the fires 

 under the tobacco have died out, if the doors are left open, 

 the plants will be sufficien tly limp to be handled without 

 breaking. But should there not be enough humidity in 

 the atmosphere to make the plants supple, wet straw 

 should be scattered over the floor of the barn, and the 

 doors shut so as to exclude the dry atmosphere. In 24 

 hours the tobacco will be in such order that it may be 

 handled without damage. This result may be hastened 

 by building small fires in the furnaces, and placing ves- 

 sels containing water over the flues. When in order, the 

 tobacco is ''cooped" down on a platform, without re- 

 moving it from the sticks, with the butts out and the 

 tails lapping. The best way is to make a shingle pile of 

 six or eight sticks, and then shingle backwards and for- 

 wards, in this way building up a pile five or six feet high 

 and eight or ten feet long. Staying in such a pile 

 greatly improves the color, and makes the leaves smooth 

 and neat in appearance. The leaves should be soft and 

 the stems hard half way from the butts to the tails, when 

 the tobacco is taken down. It must be borne in mind, 

 that any green stalks or stems will prove highly injurious 

 to the tobacco so bulked down. When the leaves have 



