448 TOBACCO LEAF. 



The first harvest is gathered early in June. The 

 growing stalks are cut in sections, each carrying two 

 leaves, and are hung on poles in the field, astraddle as 

 it were, and close together. A preliminary sorting is 

 done in the field, leaves of like character being hung on 

 the same pole. These poles are carried to the curing 

 barn by hand and put up for the barn cure. The barns 

 built in the tobacco field are considerably smaller than 

 those in New England or Pennsylvania. There is no 

 arrangement for supplying artificial heat or moisture in 

 the barns. The wrappers are kept housed till cured, 

 but the fillers are occasionally brought out and hung in 

 the sun and air during a part of the day, and always 

 housed at night. During barn curing, as well as in the 

 sweat, the crop is closely watched by the experts. Pole 

 burn seems to be unknown. The whole process of 

 sweating, "betuning," etc., requires considerable skill 

 and experience, is a secret one, and naturally I made no 

 inquiries regarding it. 



When the first crop is cut, a sucker is left on the 

 sunny side of each stalk, and this immediately starts to 

 grow, and produces a second crop, sometimes in forty- 

 five days, being already provided with a strong root sys- 

 tem, and favored by the rains, which are more abundant 

 from June on, through the summer. Even a third crop 

 may sometimes be grown from the plants first set in 

 February. Meantime, new seed beds have been made 

 and the land is planted with tobacco a second time in 

 September, and this is harvested in November or De- 

 cember. Under very favorable circumstances, a second 

 (sucker) cutting may be made from the planting. The 

 first cutting of each crop consists chiefly of wrappers. 

 The second and third are for the most part fillers. It 

 is stated that an acre of land should produce at least 

 1250 pounds annually, of which one-half should be 

 wrappers. As none of the company's tobacco has yet 



