446 



THE HARVEST. 



yet care must be used to cut up the plant as soon as it is suffi- 

 ciently ripe to promise a good curable condition, lest the 

 approach of frost should tread upon the heels of the crop- 

 master ; for in this case, tobacco will be among the first plants 

 that feel its influence, and the loss to be apprehended in this 

 instance, is not a mere partial damage by nipping, but a total 

 consumption by the destruction of every plant. I find it 

 difficult to give to strangers a full idea of the ripening of the 

 leaf : it is a point on which I would not trust my own experi- 

 ence without consulting some able crop-master in the neigh- 

 borhood ; and I believe this is not an uncustomary precaution 

 among those who plant it. So far as I am able to convey an 

 idea, which I find it easier to understand than to express, I 

 should judge of the ripening of the leaf by its thickening suffi- 

 ciently ; by the change of its color to a more yellowish green ; 

 by a certain mellow appearance, and protrusion of the web of 

 the leaf, which I suppose to be occasioned by a contraction 

 of the fibres ; and other appearances as I might conceive to 

 indicate an ultimate suspension of the vegetative functions." 

 After the plants have ripened the operation of cutting or 



HAKYESTISTG 

 begins. The cutter passes from plant to plant cutting only 



CUTTING THE PLAlfTS. 



those plants that are ripe. In harvesting a light hatchet or 



