TOPPING. 44.3 



The leaves ripen sooner if the plant is topped, while the 

 quality is much better. There are various methods of top- 

 ping as well as different periods. Some growers top the 

 plant as soon as the capsules appear, while others wait until 

 the plants are in full blossom. If topped before the plants 

 have come into blossom, the operation should be performed 

 as soon as possible, as a longer time will be required for the 

 leaves to grow and ripen than when topping is delayed until 

 the plants are in blossom. In the Connecticut valley most 

 growers wait until the blossoms appear before breaking off 

 the top. Topping must not be delayed after the blossoming, 

 in order that all danger from an untimely frost may be 

 avoided. The top may be broken off with the hand or cut 

 with a knife, the latter being the better as well as the safer 

 way. Sometimes the rain soaks into the stalk, rotting it so 

 that the leaves fall off, injuring them for wrappers. Top the 

 plants at a regular height, leaving from nine to twelve leaves, 

 so that the field will look even, and also make the number of 

 leaves to a plant uniform. Late plants may be topped with 

 the rest or not, at the option of the grower. This mode of 

 topping refers more particularly to cigar rather than cutting 

 leaf. Those varieties of tobacco adapted for cutting leaf 

 should be topped as soon as the button appears ; top low, 

 thereby throwing the strength of the stalk into a few leaves, 

 making them large and heavy. The number of leaves should 

 not exceed fourteen. Let it stand from five to six weeks 

 after it is topped. The object in letting it stand so long 

 after topping is to have it thoroughly ripe. This gives it the 

 bright, rich, golden color, entirely different from cigar leaf, 

 but very desirable for chewing leaf. On account of the 

 length of time it must stand after topping, it is desirable to 

 take that which has been topped early, in order to have it 

 ripen, and get it in before a freeze, although ripe tobacco is 

 nc j injured by cold nights, and will sometimes stand even an 

 ordinary frost. 



The manner of topping in Virginia by the first planters in 

 the colony, is thus described : 



