330 MODE OF CURE. 



appearance of being too hard fired, indeed so much so as to 

 have the flavor of being baked." The early culture of to- 

 bacco in the State attracted the attention of tobacco buyers, 

 especially those who had dealt largely in Maryland leaf, and 

 BO much so, that one large firm issued a circular and sent to 

 all the prominent growers in the tobacco growing section 

 giving instructions in regard to its cultivation and manage- 

 ment. We copy from one lying before us, and dated 1842. 

 It reads as follows : "As tobacco is every year becoming a 

 more prominent article in your State, we deem it of so much 

 importance that we have had this circular printed on the sub- 

 ject of its Cultivation and Management, and take the liberty 

 to address it to you. New ground produces the finest and 

 highest priced tobacco. The plants should be set about 2 

 feet 9 inches or three feet apart, which will give them suffi- 

 cient air and sun to ripen, and give the leaf a good body. It 

 should be topped as soon as it buttons, kept clear of suck- 

 ers, and cut as soon as it is ripe if favorable weather, it will 

 be fit for the house in 15 to twenty days after it is topped. 



"When cut, let it remain until sufficiently lank to handle 

 without breaking ; but it should be housed before it is suii- 

 killed, or much deadened, to prevent which, put it up in 

 small heaps, say as much as a man can carry, with the heads 

 to the sun, as soon as cut, and even then the top plants may 

 be too much deadened, unless soon removed to the house. 

 If sun-killed, it will not cure fine. The Maryland system is 

 to fire without flues, and when the precaution is taken to lay 

 planks or boards directly over the fire, accidents seldom occur. 

 " Slow fires are kept up for the first four or five days after 

 the house is filled, so as to give it a moderate heat through- 

 out, until the Tobacco is generally yellow, then the fires are 

 raised or increased so as to kill the leaf and stem in forty- 

 eight hours or less. When cured on the stock, as is done in 

 Maryland, it can be better assorted, or the different qualities 

 more readily separated than when stripped in the field and 

 cured in the leaf. When stripping and tying up in bundles, 

 it should be assorted according to the following classifica- 

 tions: 1st, Fine Yellow; 2d, Yellow; 3d, Spangled; 4th, 

 Fine Ked ; 5th, Good Ked ; 6th, Brown and Common. It 

 is often put up as if there were but two or three qualities, 

 hence there is a great mixture of the several sorts, which is 

 a very serious disadvantage in selling, as the purchaser gener- 

 ally values it at the price of the most inferior in the sample. 



