414 



FOREIGN TOBACCO SHEDS. 



field. In Cuba, the curing houses are located on the vegas, 

 and as soon as the tobacco is cut it is placed on the poles to 

 dry or cure. In Asia, a large quantity of the tobacco is cured 

 in the peasants' huts, where the smoke is said to impart 

 additional flavor to the already fragrant leaves. In the Phil- 

 ippines the largest tobacco sheds are found, described by 

 Gironiere as " vast sheds," and of sufficient capacity to hold 

 acres of the leaves. In Persia, where the celebrated Shiraz 

 tobacco is grown, the sheds are simply covered buildings 

 without any boards on the sides, the only protection afforded 

 from the weather being supplied by light, thorny bushes, so 

 that the plants may be exposed to the wind. After fully cur- 

 ing, the tobacco is removed to another drying-house and turned 

 every day. The drying-houses in other tobacco-growing 



countries differ but little 

 from those described, while 

 the manner of curing is 

 similar, the plants being 

 "fired," sun-cured, or air- 

 dried the three modes 

 now employed in drying 

 the leaves. If the tobacco 

 of the tropics is fragrant 

 while growing, it is doubly 

 so after being harvested 

 and carried to the sheds. 

 The odor from the well- 

 filled barns is borne on the breeze alike to friend and foe of 

 the plant. As the process of drying goes on, the plants 

 gradually lose the strong perfume emitted during the earlier 

 stages of curing, and by the time the leaves are " cured down " 

 and the sheds closed, but little odor issues from the plants, 

 and this continues to be the case until the leaves are entirely 

 dried. 



PERSIAN TOBACCO SHED. 





