74 TOBACCO. 



ripe, it has a yellow faded colour, and becomes brittle ; 

 the surface of the leaf is rough and ridged. By bending 

 the leaf short between the fingers, it will break before it 

 will double. The sticks to hang it on should be in readi- 

 ness. The best mode of hanging or stringing is with a 

 V-shaped spear, made of iron or steel. The spear has a 

 socket, large to admit the end of the stick. The sticks 

 should be sharpened at one end, to fit the socket ; should 

 be 4 feet 6 inches in length, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch 

 thick. A stick of these dimensions will hold 8 plants. 

 The tobacco should be cut off just below the bottom leaf, 

 then turn the plant upside down, and let it remain so till 

 the sun wilts it. When it is wilted it can be handled 

 without breaking ; then it should be taken up and laid in 

 piles of 8 stalks each, placing the butts of the stalks 

 towards the sun, to prevent it from sun-burning. When 

 it is sun-burnt it turns black, and it cannot be cured any 

 other colour than black, which ruins its sale. The sticks 

 should be strewed along, one stick to a pile ; place the 

 spear on the end of the stick, and set the stick upright ; 

 then take up the tobacco, one stalk at a time, and thrust 

 it on the stick, letting the spear pass through the stalk, 

 about 6 inches from the butt end ; then take the spear off 

 and take up the stick, and shake the tobacco out straight, 

 and set the stick up with the butts towards the sun." 



Some tobacco-growers, remarks Pursley, "prefer split- 

 ting the stalk from the top down to within about 6 inches 

 of the butt, then hang it on the sticks. But I cannot 

 agree with them, for it is more difficult to handle, and is 

 apt to slip off the stick, when moving it; besides, the 

 tobacco cured in this manner is not so heavy as if it was 



