CIGAR LEAF AT THE WEST AND SOUTH. 441 



crop is done from June 15 to September 15, by breaking 

 off (or "priming"") the leaves as fast as they "speck." 

 Let it be noted that the word "speck" is used for 

 "ripe." Indeed, this variety of wrapper leaf must not 

 be allowed to fully ripen, as its texture and its popular 

 and delicate light pea-greenish hue will be spoiled by 

 deepening into the "brown and sear." If the leaves 

 are allowed to ripen, they make a good filler, better still 

 after one or more years' reproduction in Florida. If 

 harvested before July 1, a second crop may be grown on 

 the same land. In harvesting the tobacco crop, the 

 stalk is not cut until the leaves are all gathered. As 

 soon as the lower leaves are ready to harvest, they are 

 plucked by hand, carefully laid in baskets covered with 

 burlap, and brought in carts designed for this use to a 

 tent at one end of the curing barn. Three or four pick- 

 ings at different times are necessary, to handle the whole 

 crop. The field work is all done by negroes, who are 

 paid 75 cents per day, and are under white superin- 

 tendents. 



For hanging in the barn, laths are used. They are 

 deeply notched at one end with a saw, and into these 

 cuts the cord is drawn, which holds the leaves. Girls 

 or boys string the leaves on these cords with a needle 

 made for this purpose. The girls get 20 cents per 100 

 laths and will sometimes string 350 per day. The leaves 

 hang face to face and back to back, a finger breadth 

 apart, 40 to 50 leaves to a lath, as shown in Fig. 125. 

 The laths hang from four to six inches apart on the 

 poles in the barn, and a barn holds from 20,000 to 

 25,000 lath, being filled in a day or day and a half. The 

 barn curing is done much as it is at the North, with 

 careful attention to ventilation and moisture, but with- 

 out artificial heat, as white vein and pole burn seem to 

 be unknown. The cure is usually completed within 35 

 to 40 days, when the green color has disappeared from 



