410 



ORDINARY SHEDS. 



circulation of air, and is a good space apart for the process of 

 curing the plant. There are various methods in use in respect 

 to the construction of tobacco houses, and various materials 

 of which they are constructed ; but such are generally found 

 upon the premises as suffice for the occasion. And although 

 these sizes 'are most prevalent, yet tobacco houses are in 

 many instances built larger or smaller according to the cir- 

 cumstances of the proprietor, or the size of the spot of ground 

 nnder cultivation. 



"The most ordinary kinds consist of two square pens 



built out of logs of six or 

 eight inches thick, and 

 from sixteen to twenty feet 

 long. Out of this material 

 the two pens are formed 

 by notching the logs near 

 their extremities with an 

 axe; so that they are al- 

 ternately fitted one upon 

 another, until they rise to 

 a competent height ; taking 

 care to fit joists in at the 

 respective tiers of four 

 feet space, so that scaffolds 

 may be formed by them 

 similar to those heretofore 

 described to have been erected in the open field, for the 

 purpose of hanging the sticks of tobacco upon, that they 

 may be open to a free circulation of air during this stage of 

 the process. These pens are placed on a line with each 

 other, at the opposite extremes of an oblong square, formed 

 of such a length as to admit of a space between the two pens 

 wide enough for the reception of a cart or wagon. This 

 space, together with the two pens, is covered over with one 

 and the same roof, the frame of which is formed in the same 

 way as the walls by notching the logs aforesaid, and narrow- 

 ing up the gable ends to a point at the upper extremity of 

 the house, termed the ridge pole. The remaining part of the 

 fabric consists of a rough cover of thin slabs of wood, split 

 first with a mall and wedges, and afterwards riven with an 

 instrument or tool termed a froe. The only thing which 

 then remains to be done, is to cut a door into each of the 

 pens, which is done by putting blocks or wedges in betwixt 

 the logs which are to be cut out, and securing the jambs 



VIRGINIA SHED 150 YEARS AGO. 



