54 



ag-ainst the casualty of which I hare been speaking. It 

 is very important that this should be done, as it is com- 

 pletely ruinous to so much of the tobacco as may be- 

 come heated to a high degree, as it will be if suffered to 

 lie in large heaps over night. 



"There are two modes of treating tobacco when it is 

 cut, one is to hang it on scaffolds, exposed to the 

 weather; the other is to hang it at once in suitable 

 houses. 



"The former method must, of necessity, be resorted 

 to where there is a scarcity of house room. By hang- 

 ing some time on a scaffold, the tobacco commences cur- 

 ing and can be stowed much closer in houses than it 

 can be, with safety, when first cut. But it is subject 

 to serious disadvantages. Those parts which are ex- 

 posed to the sun are liable to be sun-burned, and much 

 of it may, therefore, be injured on the scaffold. An- 

 other injury, and a most material one, is, that if suffered 

 to remain on the scaffold till the leaves begin to cure, 

 they are liable to be injured by the dews which fall every 

 night ; and still more by a rain, if one should happen 

 to fall. If the tobacco is housed, from the scaffold, be- 

 fore it begins to cure, not much is gained in point of 

 room, when stowed in the tobacco-house. If suffered 

 to hang on the scaffold till partly cured, it may be great- 

 ly injured by rains and dews. 



" the safest way, therefore, is to put it in houses or 

 under sheds, as soon as it is cut. But here again care 

 must be taken to avoid another casualty, that of being 

 house-burned. It is stated in the Farmer's Guide, page 

 2G5, that, if it is intended ' to cure by fire, the tobacco 

 is carried immediately from the field to the house, hung 

 on sticks, as before described, and these sticks crowded 

 as close together on the tier as they can possibly be, so 

 as to exclude all air from the tobacco. It remains in 

 this situation until the leaves of the plants become yel- 

 low, or of the color of hickory leaves just before they 

 fall. This will generally happen in four or five days, 

 when the sticks must be spread and placed at the pro- 

 per distances in the house.' There never was a greater 



