464 OLD STYLE. 



immediately under the most powerful point of the lever, a 

 platform or floor of plank is constructed for the hogshead to 

 Btand upon during the operation of prizing. This must be 

 laid upon a solid foundation, levelled, upon hewn pieces of 



PRIZING IN OLDEN TIMES. 



wood as sleepers ; and so grooved and perforated that any 

 wet or rain which may happen to fall upon the platform may 

 run off without injuring the tobacco. Blocks of wood are 

 prepared about two feet in length, and about three or four 

 inches in diameter, with a few blocks of greater dimensions, 

 for the purpose of raising the beam to a suitable purchase ; 

 and a movable roof constructed of clap-boards nailed upon 

 pairs of light rafters, of sufficient size to shelter the platform 

 and hogshead, is made ready to place astride of the beam, as 

 a saddle is put upon a horse's back, in order to secure the 

 tobacco from the weather while it is subjected to this tedious 

 part of the process. 



" That part of the apparatus which is designed to manage 

 and give power to the lever is variously constructed : in some 

 instances two beams of timber about six feet long, and 

 squared to four by six inches, are prepared ; through these, 

 by means of an auger hole, a sapling of hickory or other 

 tough wood, is respectively passed ; and the root thereof 

 being formed like the head of a pin to prevent its slipping 

 through the hole, the sapling is bent like a bow, and the 

 other end is passed through the same piece of wood in a 

 reversed direction, in which position it is wedged. These 

 two bows are in this manner hung by the sapling loops upon 



