408 



STRIPPING HOUSES. 



without danger of injuring the tobacco, or the health of the 

 stripper. Such buildings however are needed only in tobacco 

 sections where the cold is extreme during the winter, when 

 most of the tobacco is to be stripped. The stripping room 

 or house is provided with a stove, a long table, or elevated 

 platform, in front of the windows, of which there should 



STRIPPING ROOM. 



be several to admit plenty of light, and a number of 

 chairs to accommodate the strippers. On the stove a 

 kettle of water is kept constantly boiling or heated, the 

 ascending steam of which keeps the leaves of tobacco from 

 drying and consequently from cracking or breaking. "When 

 in condition for "striking" or taking down, the plants are 

 carried to the stripping-room, and covered with boards 

 and blankets, when the operation called stripping com- 

 mences. Many of the stripping-rooms are built large enough 

 to contain the cases after the tobacco is packed, thus answer- 

 ing a double purpose. 



In Virginia and the other tobacco-growing states of the 

 South, the tobacco barn is built altogether different, as the 

 method of curing is by fires or flues instead of air curing. 

 The height of the building is usually twice its width and 

 length. In the center of the smooth earthen floor, is the 

 trench for " firing," while around the sides of the building 



