59 



tlie leaves will burn before they are wilted. The best 

 w\ay is to cut in the afternoon and lay on the ground to 

 wilt. This wnltiiig forwards the process of curing, and 

 so toughens the plant as to make it practicable to hang 

 it without much loss in breaking leaves. 



" After wilting draw to the house, which should be 

 twenty-four feet wide, fifteen feet high, so as to have 

 three tiers, one above the other. A building of this 

 width and height, thirt^^-five feet long, will store an acre, 

 or one ton of tobacco. The girts on the side of the build- 

 ing should be five feet apart; a row of posts through 

 the middle is necessary to put girts in, to hold the poles 

 that the plants are tied to. The best poles are made of 

 basswood sawed one and a half by four inches, and 

 twelve feet long. 



" The plants are handed to a man who, standing on a 

 movable platform made by a light plank, receives them, 

 and beginning at the upper tier he winds a piece of pre- 

 pared twine around a stalk, fastening the first plant to 

 the pole; the second plant is placed on the other side of 

 the pole, and a single turn is made around the stalk ; 

 then again the third stalk is put on the same side of the 

 first, the twine passed around, and the next on the other 

 side, and so on to the end of the pole, w^here the twine 



Tobacco stacked after stripping. 



is made fast. About thirty or thirty-six arc hung on a 

 pole, one-half on each side. If this twine gives way it 

 is manifest that they will all be let loose. The poles 



